MUNICH - Ernie Els shot a 3-under 69 in the second round of the BMW International Open on Friday to maintain his one-stroke lead. The South African made six birdies, a double bogey and a bogey, leaving him at 12-under 132 halfway through the European Tour event. Els, a two-time winner of the British Open and U.S. Open, opened with a 63 Thursday. "Theres so much golf to be played. If you fall out of the lead, if youre not leading after three rounds, it doesnt really mean much at all late Sunday," Els said. "So you just want to stay in the race and keep trying to go forward." He is followed by Matthew Baldwin of England (69) and Alexander Levy of France (68). Defending champion Danny Willett of England shot a 65 for the days best round and is tied for fourth place with Bernd Wiesberger of Austria (68). Willett was six strokes off the pace after an opening 69 and is happy he is back in contention to become the first player to defend the title in the 25th edition of the competition. "Yesterday was a bit hit and miss, a little bit shaky," said Willett, whose season was disrupted by a back injury. "I havent played a lot of tournament golf in the past 14 weeks, so it was a bit rusty. And today I hit some proper golf shots again and I played really nicely." Five players — 2008 winner Martin Kaymer and Marcel Siem of Germany, Tommy Fleetwood of England, Spains Miguel Angel Jimenez and Swedens Alex Noren — are three strokes off the pace to be tied for sixth. "The gap between Ernie and me, its shrank by one. Instead of four, its only three now," said Siem, who received great support from the appreciative crowd. "The people were super cool today." Els was behind Willett and Wiesberger by the time he teed off in the afternoon. Els began with five successive pars before holing his first birdie, but ran into trouble when he found water from the tee at the par-four No. 7 and needed six shots. After four more birdies, a bogey on No. 16 looked to have cost him the lead but he finished with a simple tap-in for another birdie. "I didnt feel a lot of energy today for some reason, especially on the front nine for the first 12 holes or so," Els said. "I dont know, maybe its the jet-lag or age or something. I made an absolute mess of two holes — 16 was just an absolute mess and seven! You take those really big mistakes away and then I had a really good round." Kobe Bryant Shoes Deals . The visitors took a deserved lead in the 16th minute with midfielder Yohan Cabaye curling the ball beyond Adrian from inside the penalty area. Kobe Bryant Shoes From China . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. https://www.cheapkobebryantshoes.com/ . Louis Blues. Shane Hnidy joins Brian Munz for the broadcast on TSN 1290 Radio at 7pm ct. Wholesale Kobe Bryant Shoes . Kuznetsov, who was selected by the Capitals in the first round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, has been playing for his hometown team Chelyabinsk Traktor of the KHL. Kobe Bryant Shoes Free Shipping . The news was first reported on Gonzalezs Twitter account and confirmed by the Rockies. Gonzalez has a six-week window before position players have their first workout at spring training in Arizona. NORMAL, Ill. -- Paris Lee scored 18 points, dished out a career-high 11 assists and hit a pair of free throws with 23 seconds remaining to lift Illinois State to a 79-74 win over New Mexico on Saturday night.Illinois State (4-2) led by as many as 10 points late in the second half before New Mexico rallied, cutting the deficit to 75-74 on Elijah Browns 3-pointer with a minute left in the game. Lee hit a jumper at the other end to extend the Redbirds advantage back to three, then got bothh free throws after being sent to the line with 23 seconds left.ddddddddddddNew Mexico missed its last two shots, both 3-point attempts.Deontae Hawkins added 14 points for Illinois State, Keyshawn Evans got 12 points, all from long range, and Phil Fayne had 10 rebounds.Brown finished with 21 points to lead New Mexico (5-3) and Damien Jefferson added 12 points. ' ' '