There's a good European PGA Tour story unfolding in Raphaël Jacquelin

Could this be déjà vu for Raphaël Jacquelin?

Jacquelin finds himself still in the lead of the BMW Asian Open in Shanghai heading into the weekend. Last week, you might recall, Jacquelin found himself in the same position at the Volvo Open (also held in Shanghai), heading into the weekend rounds at 4-under-par.

Then the Frenchman collapsed: He started Saturday with three bogeys on the front nine, and added another on the back (with no birdies to stem the blood flow). Then Sunday he added two more bogeys and by then he was too far back for two late-round birdies to make any difference. He finished 3-under, seven-back from the winner, Austrian Markus Brier.

That was no small meltdown. Jacquelin has only won one time on the European PGA Tour, at the 2005 Open de Madrid in 2005 (which was his 238th start). But all of a sudden he is finding himself in contention on a pretty regular basis, not only at last week’s Volvo but, two weeks ago, at the Estoril Open de Portugal, where he finished third despite a late charge that came up a bit short.

His recorded his first title after 238 starts. Think about that.

Jacquelin’s putting let him down last week, but so far its holding him up this week at the BMW. He fired a first round 66, and followed that up today with a 69, including five birdies in the last 12 holes.

“We were lucky this afternoon and the wind died on the back nine,” Jacquelin told Europeantour.com “You need some luck sometimes and we were lucky with this side of the draw.”

Jacquelin said he is confident with the way he’s striking and putting the ball.

“I have improved my putting during the last few weeks and I am just trying to make the strokes and the swing I do in a practice round,” he said. “And the birdies are coming. If the weather is good we will have to be low to win this tournament and the putter will have to be hot.”

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In other business from the BMW, Ernie Els continues to struggle to make key putts. Back-to-back 71s has him at 2-under, seven-back from Jacquelin. He’ll have to mount some kind of weekend charge to earn his first win of 2007. …

And that fat joke John Daly never really showed up in Shanghai this week (no surprise there). He finished the second round at 11-over-par (79-76) and was cut.