Golf:Luke Donald is on course to become world number one after a second-round of 65 moved him into a one-shot lead at The Heritage at Hilton Head.
The 33-year-old is currently ranked number three but, with current rankings leader Martin Kaymer having a week off and Lee Westwood playing in a tournament worth fewer ranking points in Indonesia, a win in south Carolina would move Donald to the head of the standings.
The Englishman had opened with a four-under 67 yesterday, and he was in imperious form today as he racked up five birdies on the front nine.
He dropped a shot at the 10th but picked up two more at 11 and 15 to move a stroke clear of first-round leader Garrett Willis on 10 under par.
"I got off to a great start, again, birdieing the first two holes gave me some good momentum," said Donald. "I played that front nine really well. The back nine is a little bit tougher, but, again, I did a lot of good things today, drove it reasonably well.
"Some of my misses were in good places where I could get a good up-and-down. It was a solid day."
Willis, whose decision to continue with his conventional putter instead of switching to a belly putter yielded a seven-under 65 yesterday, could not keep up his high standards from the first day as he started the front and back nines with bogeys in a round of 69, but he remains in the fight for victory.
Camilo Villegas was three under on the day as the Colombian moved into a tie for third while Jim Furyk and Masters contender Jason Day were two of the big movers on the day as they also moved to eight under with five-under and six-under rounds respectively.
Ian Poulter is a shot further back after a flawless round of 66, with Ireland's Graeme McDowell at two under following his 69.
But Poulter and McDowell's Ryder Cup team-mate Francesco Molinari missed the cut after the Italian posted a three-under-par 74 to leave him four over overall.
Collated second round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour The Heritage, Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, United States of America
(USA unless stated, Irish in bold, par 71):
132Luke Donald (Eng) 67 65
133Garrett Willis 64 69
134Chad Campbell 65 69, Jim Furyk 68 66, Camilo Villegas (Col) 66 68, Jason Day (Aus) 69 65
135Ben Crane 69 66, Ian Poulter (Eng) 69 66
136Tim Herron 65 71, Chris Couch 68 68, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 70 66, Brandt Snedeker 69 67, Mark Wilson 66 70, D.J. Trahan 69 67
137Spencer Levin 68 69, Graeme McDowell 68 69,J.P. Hayes 70 67, Scott Verplank 67 70
138Chris Riley 67 71, Robert Garrigus 68 70, Billy Mayfair 70 68, Matt Bettencourt 65 73, Webb Simpson 69 69, Blake Adams 67 71, Nathan Green (Aus) 69 69, Brendon De Jonge 67 71, Pat Perez 71 67, Jason Dufner 67 71, Brendan Steele 70 68, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 70 68, Kevin Na 70 68, Ricky Barnes 71 67, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 65 73, Tommy Gainey 71 67
139Jerry Kelly 68 71, Brian Gay 66 73, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 74 65, Heath Slocum 71 68, Ben Martin 67 72, Paul Goydos 72 67, Boo Weekley 69 70, Daniel Summerhays 73 66
140Kris Blanks 71 69, Matt Kuchar 68 72, Stewart Cink 72 68, James Driscoll 70 70, Steve Elkington (Aus) 68 72, Jeff Klauk 69 71, Will MacKenzie 71 69, Bill Haas 70 70, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 69 71, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 69 71, Tim Petrovic 68 72, Bio Kim (Kor) 71 69, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 71 69, Stephen Ames (Can) 72 68
141Kent Jones 73 68, Chad Collins 71 70, Lee Janzen 70 71, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 70 71, Troy Merritt 71 70
142Brian Davis (Eng) 68 74, Michael Bradley 71 71, Chris DiMarco 73 69, Steve Flesch 72 70, David Hearn (Can) 72 70, Ben Curtis 71 71, Kevin Streelman 73 69, Alex Cejka (Ger) 69 73, John Daly 70 72, Charlie Wi (Kor) 72 70, Jason Bohn 73 69, Josh Teater 68 74
The following players failed to make the cut:
143Chris Kirk 75 68, Chris Stroud 73 70, Michael Sim (Aus) 71 72, Justin Hicks 72 71, Kevin Stadler 75 68, Joe Durant 72 71, Bo Van Pelt 68 75, Hunter Haas 70 73, Jonathan Byrd 74 69, Kevin Kisner 73 70, Johnson Wagner 71 72
144Brad Faxon 75 69, Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 75 69, Marc Turnesa 72 72, Bryce Molder 74 70, Steven Bowditch (Aus) 76 68, Fabian Gomez (Arg) 74 70
145Charles Warren 70 75, Scott Stallings 70 75, Zach Johnson 73 72, Lucas Glover 73 72, Michael Putnam 72 73, William McGirt 70 75, Charles Howell III 72 73, Steve Marino 71 74, Marc Leishman (Aus) 72 73
146Francesco Molinari (Ita) 72 74, Keegan Bradley 74 72, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 72 74, Bill Lunde 77 69, Dean Wilson 76 70, Zack Miller 74 72, Glen Day 73 73, Cameron Tringale 74 72
147Kyle Stanley 74 73, Tag Ridings 69 78, Chris Epperson 76 71, Justin Leonard 76 71, Sean O'Hair 70 77, Cameron Beckman 72 75, Rickie Fowler 74 73, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 73 74, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 79 68
148Sam Saunders 74 74, Fred Funk 76 72, Derek Lamely 73 75
149Mark Anderson 71 78, Davis Love III 76 73
150Mike Weir (Can) 78 72
151Michael Thompson 80 71, Bobby Gates 77 74, Shaun Micheel 77 74
152Jeff Maggert 77 75
153Ernie Els (Rsa) 75 78
154Peter Hanson (Swe) 76 78
155Jeff Peck 81 74
159Roland Thatcher 84 75
WD: Jesper Parnevik 72, Rocco Mediate 77
