Els moves four ahead into the weekend

Ernie Els ignored thoughts of a long-awaited showdown later this month with Tiger Woods after moving four strokes clear of the field at the halfway mark of the Johnnie Walker Classic in Australia.

Els continued his domination of the tournament, adding a seven-under-par 65 to Thursday's opening 64 on the Lake Karrinyup course in Perth.

The South African, chasing his fourth win in five starts this year, carded an eagle and six birdies and for a second day running played the inward half of the Western Australia course in a seven-under-par 29.

Woods is only returning to action this week in the Buick Invitational on the U.S. tour after end-of-season knee surgery while Els has set the golf world alight with his string of wins which followed victory in his last event of 2002, the Sun City Challenge.

Els began his round on Friday at eight under par and three strokes behind England's Greg Owen and Australian Robert Allenby, who had completed their rounds after starting in the morning half of the draw.

Els was in trouble at the par-five third hole taking the only bogey of his round when he put his second shot into a water hazard.

He birdied the seventh hole to move back to eight under par before an astonishing five holes when he birdied four holes in succession from the 11th and then capped the streak by sinking a 24-foot eagle putt at the par-five 15th.

A remarkable birdie at the final hole from 33 feet capped a memorable day for the world number two.

"I did not expect that one at the last to go in but it went right in the middle," he said.

"I was not trying to shoot 29 on the back but it all happened for me on the back nine again today.

"I just tried to stay patient today and on the front nine I wasn't too comfortable with my swing and I could feel it and I was just trying to work around it and stay patient.

"As the round went on, I was just trying to make things happen.

"But I started feeling my rhythm I started to make some putts. You are not always going to play the way you want to play and you have to accept it and let it happen."

Els, who this year has already won twice on the U.S. PGA Tour plus once on the European Tour, confirmed he will next compete in the U.S. Accenture Match-Play Championship which starts on February 26 where Woods will also be playing.

But Els declined to be drawn into any talk of a showdown with Woods at La Costa.

"Tiger is the number one in the world and his record speaks for itself," said Els.

"I am just trying to play better."

Els said he was skipping next week's Nissan Open in Los Angeles and instead spending the week with his family relaxing in Hawaii.

Owen and Allenby stormed to the top of the early leaderboard on day two with eight-under-par 64s.

Owen recorded an eagle and seven birdies finishing just before Els teed off. He was soon joined by Allenby who had a bogey-free round that included eight birdies.

Eighty-two players made the one-under-par halfway cut but not Spain's Sergio Garcia, Englishman Lee Westwood or Australian favourite, Adam Scott, who each signed for 144 totals.

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