Colin Montgomerie holds on to narrow lead

Britain's Colin Montgomerie sleep-walked his way to a one-under-par 69 to cling to a one-shot lead after the second round of the WGC-American Express Championship on Friday.

Fighting off jet lag, he began the day with a three-stroke cushion over a chasing pack of 11 players led by Tiger Woods and stayed awake long enough to stay top of the leaderboard on seven-under 133 and on course for his first PGA Tour title.

Fellow Briton David Howell and American John Daly were in joint second place on 134 after returning 67s for the second consecutive day.

Woods, chasing a record 10th individual WGC title, battled to a 68 and leads a large group on five-under 135.

"I was so tired I was blinking," said Montgomerie, who flew to San Francisco on Tuesday after winning the Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews two days earlier. "I'll get a better sleep tonight hopefully," he told reporters. "I'm very tired right now, I think the jet lag is kicking in.

"I just left too late. My first win in 19 months needed celebration.

"I needed to see my children on Monday and I had a four-hour delay on the runway on Tuesday morning so I arrived here very late. I just hope the adrenaline will keep me going these next two days."

Montgomerie showed no sign of fatigue when he opened the $7.5 million tournament with a six-under 64, his best round on the PGA Tour.

The 42-year-old Scot moved to seven-under with a birdie at the par-three third.

Montgomerie then had two birdies and two bogeys on the inward half.

"I truly believe today's score was better than yesterday's," he said. "Yesterday's was adrenaline and it just flowed but today was tougher.

"I really had to scramble more today."

Woods's round included four bogeys, four birdies and an eagle on the 344-yard par-four seventh which was set up by a jaw-dropping drive that stopped seven feet from the cup.

Overall, though, the 29-year-old American felt he could have done better.

"I turned a really good round into an okay round," said Woods, who has won five times this season including the WGC Invitational in Akron in August.

"I had an opportunity to post a really low number and I didn't. Hopefully I'll do that tomorrow.

"I feel I'm hitting the ball well, it's just a matter of being patient on this golf course."

Joining the U.S. Masters and British Open champion on five-under were Americans Fred Funk (68), Sean O'Hair (67), Jim Furyk (67) and Mark Calcavecchia (68), and Argentina's Angel Cabrera (66).

Three shots off the pace on four-under 136 were Spain's Sergio Garcia, Americans Billy Mayfair and David Toms, Australia's Stuart Appleby and Canada's Stephen Ames.

Ames recorded the day's best round, a six-under 64.

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