In lengthening shadows around the Stadium Course yesterday, the former ice-hockey player remained untouchable at the top of the leaderboard.

Not even the elegant-swinging Vijay Singh, close to the end of the field, could overtake the improbable figure of Jerry Kelly in the second round of the $6 million Players Championship.

While his rivals came up with fearsome predictions, designed either to frighten each other or impress the great unwashed, the 34-year-old shot a sparkling 66 to reach the halfway stage at 135 - nine under par. It placed him a stroke clear of first-round leader Paul Azinger while Singh was a stroke further back in a share of third place.

Swirling winds, slow fairways and slick greens seemed to present no serious problem for Kelly, whose 66 was arguably better than Azinger's same score of Thursday, given the tougher conditions.

For his part, Azinger was happy to consolidate with a second-round 70. "I wasn't quite as sharp from tee to green, but my short game was really good, especially my putting." It has been said that what the American public wants in the theatre, is a tragedy with a happy ending. Though there has already been considerable grief here, the participants in a happy ending are more difficult to predict.

Both Irish challengers, Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke, had halfway totals of 145, two strokes inside the three-over-par cut of 147.

Clarke had an exemplary 70, but Harrington was disgusted with a 75 which contained uncharacteristically poor putting. In fact, he missed three threefooters, another one from four feet and used the blade 34 times.

"There were other putts which somehow fell into the hole," said the Dubliner. "Though we got the worst of the day, it was still a bad round of golf with a lot of mistakes."

His displeasure was justified by the fact that, in the following three-ball, Bernhard Langer shot a fine 68 for 141 - "my short game saved me" - to be the leading European. Having started on the 10th, Harrington played decidedly patchy golf to reach the turn in 38, leaving him level-par for the championship at that stage.

The pressure was eased somewhat by birdies at the first, where he sank a six-footer, and at the third, finding the target from 20 feet. But he proceeded to bogey three of the remaining six holes, largely through waywardness off the tee.

Still, he and Clarke are here, whereas Lee Westwood has departed the scene. Set to comfortably survive the cut when level par for the championship on the 18th tee, he saw a long-held Sawgrass truism gain fresh credence. "You're never safe until you walk off the 18th," said the Englishman ruefully.

As it happened, he had just run up a wretched eight which involved two balls in the water. So it was entirely understandable that he should have been anxious to get home to Worksop and his wife Laura who is expecting their first child.

"On any other course I would probably have scored 65," he added. "Those drives at 18 were my only poor shots of the round, but it just goes to show the very fine line between success and failure out there."

With the course drying out, Tiger Woods predicted a grim weekend after sweeping into contention with a second-round 69 for a halfway total of 141. But Colin Montgomerie hadn't a care in the world, after carding a second successive 71.

The execution of yesterday's round was reminiscent more of the short-game resourcefulness of Seve Ballesteros than the normal, tee-to-green precision of the jolly big Scot. In fact, Montgomerie hit only nine out of 14 fairways and was twice in water, but found splendid compensation in only 28 putts.

To carry the Ballesteros comparison a step further, he was smiling warmly, just like the conquistador of old. "I've been hitting fairways for 10 years, so I know how to get my driving sorted out," he said.

"But I'm really heartened by the quality of my putting which, as you know, had been causing me problems."

In terms of quality scrambling, it would have been difficult to surpass Montgomerie's par at the 442-yard seventh where, after finding the ubiquitous water, he took a drop and proceeded to smash a glorious three iron to two feet.

Kelly, who is still waiting for a breakthrough victory on the USPGA Tour, blames his lack of success on over-aggression, acquired during his years as an ice-hockey player.

"I've always been a hard swinger, a little preoccupied with distance," he said. "But I changed my approach this year. I shortened my swing and concentrated on keeping the ball in play. And it's working."

It certainly is. He has made all seven cuts so far this year, including two top-eight finishes for tournament earnings of $341,355 - an average of almost $50,000 per event.

In this, his sixth appearance at Sawgrass, he got a timely lift at the 532-yard second which he reduced to a drive, four wood and eight-foot putt for an eagle three. Then came birdies at the fifth and sixth for an outward 32 and an overall position of seven under par.

On the homeward journey, Kelly scrambled a fine par at the long 11th through a sandwedge to 15 feet, but made his only bogey of the round at the short 13th, which he three-putted.

Handsome compensation was at hand, however, in the shape of three birdies over the last five holes. The most impressive being a three at the last, where he hit a five-iron approach to 25 feet and sank the putt.