Owen came close to winning in Portugal in April

The pair led a journeymen challenge while stars such as defending champion Justin Rose battled to make the cut.

Owen and Green ended the day on eight-under, one shot ahead of two players looking for their first win - David Lynn and Marcel Siem.

Owen, 31, has never won since he joined the European Tour in 1996. He shot a second 68 and has now gone 68 holes in tournament golf without a bogey.

British Masters leaderboard (GB unless stated) -8 Greg Owen, Richard Green (Aus) -7 David Lynn, Marcel Siem (Ger), Mikael Lundberg (Swe) -6 Darren Fichardt (SA), Matthew Blackey -5 Ignacio Garrido (Spa) Selected others:-2 Darren Clarke, -1 Lee Westwood, Level: Justin Rose, Philip Price, Ian Poulter

Green, from the same class, has had one victory but that was six years ago.

Lee Westwood has won more recently, but his slump over the last couple of years shows few signs of ending anytime soon.

However, the former European Order of Merit winner had his first-ever ournament hole-in-one on Friday.

It came with a six-iron at the 195-yard fifth, but six bogeys meant he only just made the cut with a 76 - nine worse than his first round.

"I putted diabolically, so the hole-in-one was the only way I was going to get any shots back," he said.

Other big names in trouble included Colin Montgomerie, who failed to make it to the weekend - not ideal preparation for the US Open.

The bookmakers have him at 100-1 at Olympia Fields next week.

"That's about fair, I hate to say," said Montgomerie. "I'm not playing very well at the moment."

Pre-tournament favourite Darren Clarke could only repeat his first round one-under 71 to go into the weekend six behind.

First round leader Peter Fowler found himself quickly going backwards when he bogeyed three of his first four holes.

But he managed to steady himself in the inward nine to finish the day four-under for the tournament and within striking distance.

Paul McGinley was forced to withdraw after only five holes suffering from a neck spasm. The 36-year-old was two-under when he pulled out.