PGA TOUR:OVERNIGHT LEADER Brian Gay bogeyed the last two holes of his second round in Memphis yesterday but still stretched his clubhouse lead.

Gay, who won the Verizon Heritage tournament in April by 10 strokes, took a two-shot lead into yesterday’s play at TPC Southwind and quickly set about building an equally formidable lead with five birdies in his first eight holes before a bogey arrived at the 10th.

The American moved to 12 under, five shots clear of the field with birdies at the par-four 12th and 15th holes but his good work was undone a little with his disappointing finish to card a four-under-par 66, adding to his opening 64 to move to 10 under at the halfway stage.

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell could not follow his opening 66 with anything nearly so special as he carded a one-over 71 to fall back to three under, while Pádraig Harrington was facing another battle with the cut-line, projected to be even par, lying two-over par overall through 15 holes before play was suspended due to storms.

Reigning British Open and US PGA champion Harrington missed his fourth cut of the year on US soil at last week’s Memorial.

Meanwhile, many of the chasing pack, including world number two Phil Mickelson and Europeans JoseMaria Olazabal and Mathias Gronberg, were among the day’s late starters, but American Bryce Molder carded a 63, moving within two shots of Gay’s lead.

PGA Tour veterans Guy Boros, Woody Austin and Loren Roberts also took up the challenge with Austin moving into contention with a second-round 66 to move to seven under.

Boros was also at seven under following his second-round 66, while Champions Tour regular Roberts shot a bogey-free 67 to reach the clubhouse at six under for the tournament. That put him level with former US PGA champion Rich Beem, who shot a 68, and Heath Slocum, who, along with Molder, had the low round of the day so far with a 63.

Meanwhile, world number one Tiger Woods will launch his title defence at next week’s US Open in high-profile company with 2007 winner Angel Cabrera and British Open champion Harrington.

American Woods, US Masters champion Cabrera of Argentina and Harrington are scheduled to tee off on the first hole at 8.06am (1.06pm Irish time) in Thursday’s opening round at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York.

The heavyweight trio will start from the 10th tee at 1.36pm (6.36pm Irish time) in Friday’s second round.

Woods, who clinched last year’s US Open in a gripping 19-hole play-off with Rocco Mediate at Torrey Pines outside San Diego, is heavy favourite to win the second major championship of the year.

American world number two Phil Mickelson, who finished second behind Woods at the 2002 US Open, has been grouped with twice champions Ernie Els and Retief Goosen of South Africa for the first two rounds.

Rory McIlroy is in an exciting-looking group with American Ryder Cup winner Anthony Kim and Dustin Johnson, while Graeme McDowell tees up with Americans Ben Curtis and Chad Campbell. Other notable threesomes include world number three Paul Casey, Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy and American Jim Furyk; Spaniard Sergio Garcia, Colombian Camilo Villegas and Australia’s Adam Scott; and Fijian Vijay Singh, Indian Jeev Milkha Singh and South Korea’s KJ Choi, while Mediate has Kenny Perry and Tom Lehman for company.

(US unless stated)

Second round

130 - Brian Gay 64 66,

132 - Bryce Molder 69 63

133 - Woody Austin 67 66, Guy Boros 67 66

134 - Heath Slocum 71 63, Rich Beem 66 68, Loren Roberts 67 67.

135 - Jason Day (Aus) 70 65, Brett Quigley 69 66, Jason Dufner 68 67, John Senden 69 66, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 68 67, Vance Veazey 67 68

136 - Nathan Green (Aus) 70 66, Paul Goydos 72 64, Bob Estes 69 67, Ricky Barnes 67 69.

137 - Michael Bradley 70 67, Chris DiMarco 69 68, Tim Clark (Rsa) 70 67, Jason Gore 72 65, David Mathis 68 69, Marc Leishman (Aus) 69 68, Graeme McDowell 66 71, Jimmy Walker 65 72, Bill Lunde 71 66.

138 - Dicky Pride 69 69, John Merrick 72 66, Brendon Todd 73 65.

139 - Lee Janzen 68 71, Tim Herron 68 71, Aron Price (Aus) 73 66, Brian Vranesh 73 66.

140 - Nick OHern (Aus) 72 68, Jay Delsing 70 70, John Daly 72 68, Cliff Kresge 71 69, JJ Henry 70 70, Omar Uresti 70 70, Ronnie Black 72 68, David Gossett 70 70, Roland Thatcher 70 70.

141 - Neal Lancaster 1 72 69, Andres Romero (Arg) 73 68, Boo Weekley 69 72, Tim Petrovic 73 68, Tim Wilkinson 71 70.

142 - JP Hayes 69 73, Charles Howell III 71 71, Kirk Triplett 73 69.