Donald leads at halfway with 65

Britain's Luke Donald stormed into the second-round lead of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am after firing a seven-under-par 65 on Friday.

Standing on 10-under-par 134 after 36 holes, Donald leads world number two Vijay Singh, Tom Pernice Jr., J.J. Henry and Ken Duke by one shot.

Phil Mickelson, already a winner on the PGA Tour this season, shot his second-straight 68 and is two strokes off the lead in a tie for sixth, along with Arron Oberholser and Robert Gamez.

Donald recorded his 65 at Pebble Beach Golf Links, the host course for this event.

Players will complete one round each at Spyglass and Poppy Hills and two, including the final 18 holes, at Pebble Beach. The cut will be made after the third round.

Through 17 holes of the second round, the 26-year-old Donald had carded eight birdies and nine pars but on the par-five 18th, he hit a sand wedge to 13 feet and three-putted for a bogey six.

"I think I got a little bit ahead of myself, which you should never do," Donald said.

"Sixty-three at Pebble Beach sounded so inviting I think I got a little aggressive with that first putt."

Other than the three-putt at the last, Donald was near perfect, particularly with his iron play, hitting 15 of 18 greens, and his putting, only 26 for the round.

At times, Donald was spectacular, chipping in on the 17th hole and nearly holing a sand wedge for eagle at the par-five 14th.

"I played pretty solidly today," Donald said.

"Obviously didn't finish the way I would like to, but all in all, a good couple of days.

"I feel in control of my game right now. It always seems easy when you make birdies all the time, but the last couple days, golf seems easy to me."

Maybe it is the northern California weather that has helped Donald feel so at ease.

With temperatures in the 50s and wet conditions, Donald said Pebble Beach reminded him of his native England.

"It is similar," he said. "We've got nice, slow greens here. My game is more finesse, and the greens are so soft, you have to hit a lot three-quarter shots into them. I've been doing that since I was young."

Fiji's Singh tacked a second-round 68 at Spyglass Hill onto an opening-round 67 at Poppy Hills.

Unlike Donald, "nice" is a not a word he would use to describe the bumpy greens this week on the Monterey Peninsula.

"Every putt outside six feet is a hit-and-hope," Singh said.

"You just do your best stroke and hope it goes in. It's very difficult to putt on these greens.

"Very, very bumpy. If you make one outside five, 10 feet it's a bonus."

Despite his concerns, Singh has putted well in the two rounds, needing 29 putts on Thursday and 27 on Friday.

An the FBR Open last week, Singh finished in the top 10 for the 11th consecutive time, dating back to the WGC-NEC Invitational in August 2003.

Jack Nicklaus set the PGA Tour record of 14 straight in 1977.

With two rounds for Singh remaining at Pebble Beach, which has not been playing nearly as difficult as it can, the Fijian could take another step toward Nicklaus' mark.

"At Pebble with no wind, it will be easier to score," he said.

"The greens are better there. I'm looking forward to Pebble, and hopefully I can get a good number tomorrow and see what I can do on Sunday."

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