A magical eagle two at the 14th hole helped champion Tiger Woods fire a course record-tying 65 for a one-stroke lead over Ernie Els after the second round of the British Open on Friday.
South African Els, without a victory for seven months, matched Woods's seven-under-par effort on a revamped Hoylake layout to climb into second place on 11-under 133.
American Chris DiMarco also carded a 65 for 135, one ahead of Els's compatriot Retief Goosen, who notched two eagle threes in his 66 on another calm and sunny day in north-west England.
The highlight of the day was the eagle at the tough 456-yard 14th by early starter Woods.
The world number one launched a four-iron approach shot 201 yards over the corner of the dogleg and reacted with amazement after the ball had bounced five times before striking the bottom of the flagstick and dropping into the cup.
When he reached the green, he picked the ball out of the hole and lifted it high above his head to the resounding cheers of the crowd.
"It is a hole where you are just trying to make a four and get out of there," Woods told reporters. "A two was a huge bonus.
"I couldn't see the flag, I just tried to hold it against the wind and hit it flush. I wasn't trying to put the ball in the hole, I was just trying to get it on the green."
Woods, 30, had dropped a shot on the third but roared back to birdie the fourth, fifth and eighth.
The 10-times major winner, playing in only his third tournament since the death of his father Earl on May 3, also made inroads on par at the 10th, 11th and 16th.
Despite his low score, Woods said the pin positions were tougher than they had been on day one.
"They did a pretty good job setting up the pins and making them a little more testing than they did yesterday," he said.
"There were a couple of times when you thought you could possibly putt the ball off the green."
It is the seventh time Woods has led after 36 holes of a major. He went on to win on all six previous occasions.
GOOD JOB
World number eight Els, starting much later in the day, did not drop a stroke as he rediscovered the form that took him to the title at Muirfield in 2002.
The 36-year-old followed three birdies on the front nine with four more coming home to close in on his great rival, who he will accompany in the final pairing on Saturday.
Fully recovered from the knee injury that sidelined him for four months at the end of last season, the three-times major champion felt it was important to be within a shot of the game's best player.
Els said: "He's quite a good front-runner so you need to reach out and haul him back. He's not going to back down from a lead.
"I've got to do my own thing. I've been a good player myself for quite a long time and I've worked hard to get back."
DiMarco, whose mother Norma died earlier this month, has his father supporting him here.
"I never considered not playing," said the 37-year-old. "She certainly would not want me to sit at home."
Nearly-man DiMarco has twice come close to capturing a major championship. He was beaten by Woods at the 2005 US Masters and by Vijay Singh at the 2004 US PGA Championship, becoming the first player since Tom Watson in the late 1970s to lose two successive playoffs in a major.
In joint fifth position on seven-under 137 were Australia's Adam Scott, Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain and Finn Mikko Ilonen.
The highest-profile casualties of the cut were world number three Vijay Singh and Colin Montgomerie, last year's runner-up at St Andrews.
JJ Henry, Zach Johnson, Brett Wetterich and Lucas Glover, in the top 10 of the US Ryder Cup points table, also missed out.
South African Richard Sterne, who recorded the first hole-in-one of the championship at the par-three 15th, was another victim of the halfway guillotine.
The cut was made at one-under 143, the lowest at a major since the 1990 British Open at St Andrews.
