Heavy rain could not stop Tiger Woods from opening clear water between himself and the rest of the field at the start of the United States Open second round today.
Tiger Woods turned the United States Open into another game of catch me if you can today.
While Bethpage Black on New York's Long Island claimed many more victims - 16-year-old Derek Tolan had an 88, Filipino Felix Casas a 92 - Woods moved away from the field and closer to the second leg of his Grand Slam dream.
One ahead of Sergio Garcia after his opening 67, Woods began brilliantly with three birdies in his first four holes, fought his way through heavy rain, then closed with another birdie.
He added a 68 for a five under par halfway total of 135 and appeared destined to make it seven victories in the last 11 majors.
Nobody in the clobhouse by mid-afternoon was closer than seven shots behind, while out on the course Garcia's double-bogey at the 435-yard 11th - his second - increased Woods' lead to three.
And, with even worse weather predicted to arrive soon, there was every chance of that growing and growing.
"I couldn't have asked for a better start," Woods said. "Then I made a lot of good par putts and that always feel good."
Nick Faldo, himself going back from level par to six over with a 76, had joked before the championship that he would quit if Woods matched his record 12 under performance at Pebble Beach two years ago.
Incredibly, the world number one was halfway towards that mark after just 22 of the 72 holes.
Woods' opening birdie was truly inspired. He pushed his drive into rough and had to negotiate the branches of a tree as well for his second shot, but from around 150 yards he put it to three feet.
The 26-year-old Masters champion, winner of six of the last 10 majors and seven in all, then pitched to 18 inches on the second and chipped to six feet at the 517-yard fourth.
He failed to get up and down from sand on the short eighth, had to hole from 18 feet for his par at the next after going from rough into another bunker - that gave him an outward 33 - then bogeyed the 492-yard 10th after being in a greenside trap again.
But Woods simply refused to loosen his grip. Seven pars followed, some of them from unlikely positions, and when he had an 18-foot chance to birdie the 411-yard last one somehow sensed he would make it. He did.
Darren Clarke, paired with Woods, had his second successive 74 to be eight over, but that was safely inside the project cut mark. Dubliner Paul McGinley crashed to a 79 for 14 over and Dane Thomas Bjorn, one over at the start, also scored 79 to be 10 over and borderline for qualifying.
Open champion David Duval, for a long while the only player apart from Woods under par for the day, double-bogeyed the seventh (his 16th) and triple-bogeyed the short eighth to finish 11 over.
A second successive missed cut in the majors this year loomed for Duval, while defending champion Retief Goosen knew his week's work was done. Goosen, who slumped to a 79 yesterday, also took six at the eighth for a 75 and 14 over aggregate.
Padraig Harrington, round in 70 on day one, Colin Montgomerie, five over yesterday and Paul Lawrie (three over) were late starters