Couples leads by two in California

Golf : A second-round 66 gave Fred Couples a two-shot lead at the Northern Trust Open in California

Golf: A second-round 66 gave Fred Couples a two-shot lead at the Northern Trust Open in California. The 51-year-old American eagled the first and picked up three birdies to lie on eight under par at the halfway stage at Pacific Palisades.

Fellow countryman JB Holmes and Australia's John Senden were in the clubhouse on six under after both went round in 69, while another American Spencer Levin was also two shots off the lead having completed 15 holes when play was suspended due to darkness.

Holmes would have been in a share of the lead with Couples had he not followed successive birdies at the 15th, 16th and 17th with a double bogey at the 18th.

Senden too dropped a shot at the final hole.

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Six players followed in a share of fifth place on five under, including Kevin Na who also went round in 66.

Two more Americans, Ryan Moore and Stewart Cink, South African Trevor Immelman and Australian duo Robert Allenby and Aaron Baddeley joined Na three shots off the pace.

Baddeley had four holes of his second round still to play.

English pair Paul Casey and Justin Rose were on four under after a 67 and a 69 respectively, level with Vijay Singh and one ahead of Ireland's Pádraig Harrington, who failed to make ground with a level par 71 after an opening 68.

Scotland's Martin Laird, who held a nine-way share of the lead after the opening round, could only manage a 73 to slip back to two under par.

Latest second-round scores (USA unless stated, par 71): Note: Play suspended due to darkness with 27 players still to finish round two on Saturday morning:

134Fred Couples 68 66

136J.B. Holmes 67 69, John Senden (Aus) 67 69

137Kevin Na 71 66, Robert Allenby (Aus) 67 70, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 70 67, Stewart Cink 70 67, Ryan Moore 69 68

138Vijay Singh (Fij) 68 70, Justin Rose (Eng) 69 69, Paul Casey (Eng) 71 67

139K J Choi (Kor) 70 69, Jimmy Walker 68 71, Scott Piercy 73 66, Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 68 71

140Retief Goosen (Rsa) 69 71, Martin Laird (Sco) 67 73, Corey Pavin 69 71, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 69 71, Hunter Haas 71 69

141Michael Sim (Aus) 70 71, Ryan Palmer 70 71, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 71 70, Phil Mickelson 71 70, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 71 70, Bill Haas 67 74, Shaun Micheel 72 69, Jhonattan Vegas 71 70

142Peter Tomasulo 68 74, Vaughn Taylor 71 71, Robert Garrigus 73 69, Zack Miller 76 66, Matt Kuchar 69 73, David Duval 71 71, Steve Marino 71 71, Tommy Gainey 71 71

143Hunter Mahan 72 71, Anthony Kim 73 70, J J Henry 69 74, Sean O'Hair 72 71, Chad Collins 70 73, Zach Johnson 73 70, Harrison Frazar 69 74

144Brendon De Jonge 72 72, Scott McCarron 72 72, Jeff Overton 73 71, Steve Flesch 73 71, Mark Wilson 71 73, Charles Howell III 72 72, Tim Petrovic 74 70, Brandt Jobe 71 73, D.J. Trahan 71 73

145Steve Stricker 73 72, Charley Hoffman 71 74, Lucas Glover 73 72, Justin Leonard 73 72, Jim Furyk 75 70, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 71 74, Paul Goydos 72 73, Andres Romero (Arg) 72 73, Troy Merritt 71 74, Rickie Fowler 74 71, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 67 78, Jason Bohn 72 73

146Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 70 76, Chris Riley 71 75, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 71 75, Matt Bettencourt 72 74, Steve Elkington (Aus) 75 71, Keegan Bradley 74 72, Chad Campbell 72 74, Dean Wilson 70 76, Rich Beem 74 72, Brandt Snedeker 74 72

147Chris Kirk 76 71, Chris Stroud 74 73, Bill Lunde 74 73, William McGirt 72 75, Kyung-Tae Kim (Kor) 71 76, D.A. Points 74 73, Will MacKenzie 73 74, Luke Donald (Eng) 68 79, Troy Matteson 72 75, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 73 74

148Dustin Johnson 73 75, Charlie Wi (Kor) 70 78, Jonathan Byrd 76 72

149Bo Van Pelt 72 77, Joseph Bramlett 75 74, Michael Connell 77 72, Blake Adams 73 76, Jason Gore 76 73

150Michael Bradley 75 75, Pat Perez 70 80, Billy Mayfair 77 73, J.P. Hayes 71 79, Chez Reavie 74 76, Jason Day (Aus) 74 76, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 80 70, Josh Teater 75 75

151Kris Blanks 76 75, Nathan Green (Aus) 76 75, Tom Gillis 72 79, Steven Bowditch (Aus) 78 73

152Roland Thatcher 73 79, Marc Turnesa 75 77, Derek Lamely 73 79

153Cameron Beckman 74 79, Alex Prugh 80 73

154Brendan Steele 76 78, Jon Fiedler 78 76

156Brad Faxon 81 75

157Bio Kim (Kor) 81 76

WD:Alex Cejka (Ger) 71, Rocco Mediate 77

DQ: 147 Chris DiMarco 70 77