Ernie Els got his British Open challenge back on track Friday with a second round 67 and then admitted he was hoping Mother Nature would help him catch Tiger Woods over the weekend.
The five-under par performance moved the world number three to three-under par for the tournament but he is still some way adrift of Woods, a late starter on Friday who has been installed as runaway favourite to lift the Auld Claret Jug on Sunday after his first round 66.
Els got off to a blistering start, picking up shots at the first and second and a total of five in his first seven holes with the only blemish a bogey five at the tough fourth hole.
But life for the Big Easy started to become a lot more difficult around the turn. An attempt to drive the ninth green ended with his ball in a bush and after being forced to take a drop, Els had to get up and down to save par.
He made amends with a birdie at the next after nearly holing his seven-iron approach but the shot was given straight back at the short 11th after his tee shot bounced off the back of the green into a deep hollow.
Another shot went at the 13th. After pulling his drive into long grass to the left, the South African could only deposit his second in light rough in front of the green.
After thinning his chip to the back of the green, Els made his feelings clear by sending his wedge spinning 20 yard across the fairway towards his bag.
Needless to say, he missed. To his credit, Els did not allow that setback to derail his round and he played superbly down the closing stretch.
A 380-yard drive set him up for a birdie four at the 608-yard 14th, the longest hole on the course and after missing a four-footer for birdie on the Road Hole, he finished on a high note with a delicate bump and run to within 10 feet of the 18th hole for a closing birdie.
SINGH GOES TIGER HUNTING: Former world number one Vijay Singh found himself atop the leaderboard tied with Tiger Woods after shooting a second round three-under 69 here on Friday.
But Woods had still to start his round as Singh missed an eight foot put on the 18th which would have put him at seven-under for the championship and all alone in the lead.
Former Masters champion Phil Mickelson, who has only ever had one top ten finish in the Open, also shot a 67 despite getting off to the worst possible start when he bogeyed the opening hole to drop back to three-over for the championship. A birdie at the second got the dropped shot back but with eight shots between him and Woods the left hander still had a mountain to climb.
Freddie Couples was threatening for the lead, moving to six-under by the time he reached the infamous Road Hole. Australian Stuart Appleby was also at six-under after 14 holes.
American Brad Faxon, who came over and qualified for the Open, was five-under for the championship after 13 holes.
Australian Mark Hensby, who began the day only one behind Woods, had a nightmare second round as he quickly fell off the leaderboard.
He reached the turn in a mind numbing six-over 42.
Hensby began bogey, triple bogey, birdie, triple bogey. Although he then settled down the damage had been done.
An army of players, including Retief Goosen, Luke Donald, Jose Maria Olazabal, Scott Verplank, Chris Riley, Trevor Immelman and Peter Lonard all carded four-under 68 and have late starts on Friday.
One player who won't be playing in the second round is American David Toms.
The former US PGA winner was on his way home to the United States after disqualifying himself.
Toms believed he may have hit a moving ball while holing out for a double-bogey six on the 17th hole of his first round 74 on Thursday.
Early Leading Second Round Scores (a - denotes amateur) (7279 yards - Par 72) (57 out of 155 players have completed their second rounds) 138 - Trevor Immelman (RSA) 68-70, Vijay Singh (FIJ) 69-69 139 - Sergio Garcia (ESP) 70-69, Fred Couples (USA) 71-68 140 - Richard Green (AUS) 72-68, Hiroyuki Fujita (JPN) 72-68, John Daly (USA) 71-69, Stuart Appelby (AUS) 72-68 141 - Ernie Els (RSA) 74-67, Phil Mickelson (USA) 74-67, Henrik Stenson (SWE) 74-67, Fredrik Jacobsen (SWE) 71-70, Graeme McDowell (NIR) 69-72, Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP) 69-72, Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 73-68 142 - Duffy Waldorf (USA) 74-68, Nick O'Hern (AUS) 73-69, Ian Poulter (ENG) 70-72 143 - Darren Clarke (NIR) 73-70, Nick Faldo (ENG) 74-69, Steve Webster (ENG) 71-72, Greg Norman (AUS) 72-71, KJ Choi (KOR) 75-68 144 - Robert Rock (ENG) 73-71, Ted Purdy (USA) 72-72, Matthew Richardson (ENG-a) 75-69, Joe Ogilvie (USA) 74-70, Chris DiMarco (USA) 75-69, Tom Lehman (USA) 75-69, Justin Leonard (USA) 73-71, Mark Hensby (AUS) 67-77, Tadahiro Takayama (JPN) 72-72, Steve Flesch (USA) 70-74 145 - John Bickerton (ENG) 75-70, Rod Pampling (AUS) 74-71, Paul McGinley (IRL) 70-75 146 - Alex Cejka (GER) 74-72 147 - Mardan Mamat (SIN) 75-72 148 - Tom Byrum (USA) 79-69, Fred Funk (USA) 77-71, Nick Price (ZIM) 76-72, Jim Furyk (USA) 78-70, Ben Curtis (USA) 78-70, Ian Woosnam (WAL) 73-75, Joakim Haeggman (SWE) 75-73 149 - Scott Hend (AUS) 73-76, Shigeki Maruyama (JPN) 77-72 150 - Paul Casey (ENG) 75-75, Jean Van de Velde (FRA) 77-73 151 - Chad Campbell (USA) 78-73, Mike Weir (CAN) 76-75 152 - Tim Petrovic (USA) 77-75, Peter Lawrie (IRL) 74-78 155 - Chris Campbell (AUS) 81-74, Tony Jacklin (ENG) 79-76 157 - David Duval (USA) 80-77, Tom Pernice (USA) 78-79 - David Toms (USA) disqualified.
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