Ernie Els admitted he may have over-stretched his travelling schedule after another spluttering round at the Heineken Golf Classic at Royal Melbourne today.
The world number two and defending champion followed up his opening round 70 with a par-72 to be two-under for the tournament and 10 shots adrift of halfway pacesetter Paul Casey of England.
Els, who played in Hawaii and Singapore in the weeks before his long haul to Australia, said he had his playing rhythm had disappeared and his form had deserted him.
Up until the Heineken event, the "Big Easy" had made a spectacular start to the season with back-to-back US PGA Tour victories in the Mercedes Championship and the Sony Open in Hawaii and just missing out on a hattrick in Singapore last weekend.
The South African said: "Coming into this week, I've done quite a bit of travelling. It's not an excuse, but I've hit some very ordinary shots out there this week.
"This is my fourth week and there has been quite a bit of travel. I guess my game is not quite where I want it to be".
Casey added a five-under-par 67 to his opening 65 to leave defending champion Els flailing in his wake. He fired five birdies and a chip-in eagle at the 510-metre par-five ninth hole to lead compatriot David Lynn (69-65) by two strokes heading into the weekend rounds.