Lucas Glover leads with second 67 - Bay Hill Invitational 2006

Glover, who earned his first PGA Tour victory at nearby Disney World last October, is the leader after the second round of the Arnold Palmer-hosted Bay Hill Invitational on Friday.

Taking advantage of delightful morning conditions, Glover overcame a double bogey at the 11th hole to card a second consecutive 5-under-par 67 on the demanding Bay Hill course.

"It was a lot like yesterday (Thursday), a lot of fairways, a lot of greens and I putted well," Glover said after moving to 10-under-par 134.

Australians Rod Pampling (65) and Robert Allenby (67) are one stroke back at 9-under.

Dean Wilson, who shared the first-round lead, stumbled late to fall two shots behind, while Sergio Garcia and Bart Bryant trail by three strokes.

With its long, lush rough, Bay Hill is putting a premium on accuracy, which perhaps explains why some of the long hitters, including Tiger Woods, are well off the pace.

"I've put a premium on hitting fairways," Glover said. "I've been backing down to a 3-iron or even my rescue club if I needed it in the fairway and wasn't real confident with a 3-wood or driver. A 5-under around here two days in a row are great days. The consistency and the fact I have played solid is definitely a positive."

Glover, 26, may not win any awards for public speaking, but he is perhaps the pick of the crop of the young American players. One of his goals this year is to make the Ryder Cup team that will take on Europe at the K Club in Ireland in September.

"That's the biggest sporting event for me, the most passionate, one thing on TV I still have time to watch," said Glover, who is 10th in the United States standings. "Playing for your country, that would be the best experience for me."

Pampling, meanwhile, had the day's best round, missing only one green in regulation and converting his good approach play into seven birdies. He has endured a slow start to the year, but is swinging with renewed confidence after working the past few days with coach Gary Edwin.

"There were plenty of faults to find, so we picked up on them pretty quick and it's been nice since," Pampling said. "It was a good ball-striking day. I drove it quite nicely and my irons shots were always around pin high, which gave me a lot of opportunities to make birdies."

Allenby shrugged off the loss of his caddie, who spent Thursday night in the hospital with apparent food poisoning, and showed the form that won him the Australian triple crown at the end of last year.

"It's getting close now, very close," he said. "I'm nearly where I want to be, so hopefully I can continue over the weekend."

Woods, meanwhile, hit 17 greens in regulation but such a statistic is a little misleading because he often was a long way from the hole.

"I just need to hit my irons a little better," Woods said. "I hit some bad drives today (Friday) but overall I've driven it pretty good. I just have not got my irons to go the right distance, not even close to pin-high."

Despite calm conditions, the rough contributed to an average score of 72.7 strokes as the cut fell at 1-over 145. Among those to bow out early were John Daly, Adam Scott, Michael Campbell and Colin Montgomerie.