Five share 36 hole lead

A damp day at Muirfield ended with a logjam of five players tied for the British Open's second-round lead and grand-slam chaser Tiger Woods ominously lurking just two shots back after a steady 68.

World number three Ernie Els had set the early pace before losing momentum on the back nine and was caught by Japan's Shigeki Maruyama, Ireland's Padraig Harrington and Americans Duffy Waldorf and 1986 U.S. PGA champion Bob Tway.

South African Els and Tway both carded five-under-par 66s, Maruyama a second successive 68, Harrington a 67 and Waldorf, one of three leaders overnight, a 69 as the five ended up on six-under totals of 136.

Twice U.S. Open champion Els, who had moved two strokes ahead after completing his front nine in just 29 shots, bogeyed two of the last eight holes to surrender his early advantage.

A further shot back in a share of sixth place were Sweden's Carl Pettersson, who played solid golf for a one-under-par 70, Denmark's Soren Hansen and Ireland's Des Smyth, who both produced rounds of 69.

Scotland's Colin Montgomerie fired a seven-under-par 64 -- his best score at a British Open and the lowest round of the tournament -- to vault up the leaderboard into a tie for ninth at four-under 138.

The Scot was level with seven other players, including Zimbabwe's Nick Price and Trinidadian Stephen Ames, who carded matching rounds of 70, 1998 winner Mark O'Meara (69) and Denmark's Thomas Bjorn (70).

Woods, on course to complete the first professional grand slam of all four majors in a calendar year, fired a bogey-free round, although he struggled with his putter for the second day in a row, again taking more than 30 putts in all.

"I hit some good putts out there that just didn't go in but today was just one of those days I had to stay as patient as possible," said the world number one.

"Anytime you are near the lead in a major championship, you must be happy."

The U.S. Masters and U.S. Open champion birdied the 378-yard third after hitting a wedge approach to within four feet of the flag and picked up another shot at the par-five fifth, despite missing the fairway off the tee.

Although occasionally errant off the tee, he then produced nine successive pars before narrowly missing out on birdies at the 15th and 16th holes to stay three under for the tournament.

The 26-year-old American then birdied the par-five 17th, after holing an 11-foot putt from a hollow just off the green, and parred the last.

Els had begun the day three shots off the pace but charged to six under when he rolled in a 30-foot putt to birdie the par-four sixth.

He also secured birdies on the eighth and ninth greens to match eight other players with the second-best nine-hole score in Open history.

Only Englishman Denis Durnian, who took 28 shots to complete his front nine at Royal Birkdale in 1983, has done better.

"All in all, I would have taken a 66 before the day started," said Els.

"I can't be too disappointed. I'm in the lead after coming from nowhere, but I would have liked to play the back nine a little better.

"I was just trying to stay in the present, just trying to keep positive and not get too excited. We're just playing for position at the moment."

Montgomerie, who struck five birdies and an eagle, set a Muirfield course record on a layout which was lengthened by 64 yards for this year's championship.

The seven-times European number one, who struggled to a 74 Thursday, reeled off four birdies and an eagle in his first 15 holes and sank a birdie putt from eight feet at the last.

"The eagle at five got things going for me -- it was a 35-footer that just broke in," said the 39-year-old Scot seeking to win his first major championship.

"That's a good effort -- to go from three over to four under on this course, I'm quite happy right now."

Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke also produced some superb attacking golf on a course softened by steady drizzle.

Clarke fired a four-under-par 67, including four birdies, an eagle-three at the fifth and a bogey, to draw level with South Africa's Retief Goosen at three-under 139.

U.S. PGA champion David Toms, one of the three overnight leaders, dropped off the pace with a second-round 75.

He ended the day at even par, along with three-times Open champion Nick Faldo, who shot a 69 Friday to lift his tournament record total of sub-70 rounds to 34.

The 45-year-old Englishman had been level with Jack Nicklaus on 33 rounds at the start of the week.

World number two Phil Mickelson followed his first-round 68 with an error-strewn 76 to finish at two-over 144, one shot worse than England's Justin Rose who struggled to a four-over-par 75.

The halfway cut was made at 144, with 83 players advancing to the third round.

Among those to miss out were twice U.S. Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal, twice major winner Vijay Singh, Tom Lehman, who won the 1996 Open at Royal Lytham, and five-times Open champion Tom Watson.

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