Tiger Woods wasted no time moving through the field at the Nissan Open in Los Angeles today but Colin Montgomerie is facing the likelihood of an early exit.
Woods, whose two late bogeys in his first round left him seven behind leader Fred Funk, kicked off his second round with two birdies and they were enough to lift him from joint 24th overnight into a tie for 11th.
Montgomerie, on the other hand, double-bogeyed the 433-yard eighth and dropped from 83rd after his first day 75 to joint 117th. Only the top 70 and ties qualify for the final two rounds of the £3 million event.
Woods, who returned from knee surgery last week by winning the Buick Invitational, had the start he wanted when he played a wonderful flop shot to five feet at the 10th and made the putt.
On the 564-yard 11th a drive and three-wood took him to the front fringe and he did not waste the chance to move to two under for the day and one under overall.
Darren Clarke was on the same mark after also grabbing birdie at the 11th but a bogey five followed. On this occasion Clarke was short in two, chipped to six feet, but missed.
Montgomerie, in his first tournament of the season, knew he had to improve on his first day 75 to survive the halfway cut.
Seven opening pars did not represent too bad a start but then came trouble.
Unable to make the green in two, Montgomerie was in a horrid lie and barely moved the ball with his first attempt to recover.
His fourth shot went just over the green and he crashed from four over to six over. He needed to cover the remaining holes in at worst one under to stand a chance of staying alive.
Fred Funk, the star of yesterday's opening round, was among the later starters, but remains three clear of the field.