Peter Lawrie is just three shots off the pace at the halfway mark at the Clariden Leu Singapore Masters after carding a two-under-par 70 at Laguna National Golf and Country Club yesterday.

Lawrie, on eight-under-par 136, trails Jyoti Randhawa after the 34-year-old Indian moved into pole position in the co-sanctioned tournament between the European Tour and the Asian Tour with a second-round 68 on the harder Masters Course - the course which will be used for the final two rounds over the weekend - for an 11-under-par total of 133.

It gave Randhawa a one-shot lead over Scotland's Barry Hume, who posted a 69, also on the Masters Course, for a 10-under-par total of 134, while Malaysia's Iain Steel and England's Gary Lockerbie shared third place on nine-under-par 135, Lockerbie posting a late 67 while Steel's 65 was the best round of the day.

Lawrie, who shot 66 in his opening round, continued where he left off on Thursday with birdies at the first, second, seventh and eighth in an outward half of 32.

However, he lost momentum on the back nine, taking a bogey five at the 11th and a double-bogey five at the short 12th in a second-nine of 38.

Hume was pleased to find himself within a stroke of the lead carding a three-under-par 69. The 25-year-old from Glasgow followed up his opening round 65 at the Classic course yesterday by firing five birdies on the more difficult Masters course to move to 10-under 134.

Things could have gone even better for the 2002 Scottish amateur champion, who began well with three birdies at the first four holes and was 12-under-par after further birdies on the 15th and 16th.

A double bogey on the par-three 17th blotted his card, but Hume was still delighted with his effort of the first two days.

"It is always disappointing to double bogey the 17th, but my golf overall has been good so I am not too worried about that," said the Scot, who has played on the Asian Tour for the past two years.

"The goal was to make the cut. There are a lot of players here who are going to miss out, so I am happy with that, but I have probably done better so far than I thought I would."

Randhawa, winner of the Singapore Open in 2000, had even more reason to be pleased after following his opening 65 on the Classic course with a four-under 68 on the Masters.

The man from New Delhi had seven birdies, but saw his lead trimmed to just one stroke after making his third bogey of the round on the penultimate hole to finish the day on 11-under-par.

"It really got windy and it was a tough scoring day," said Randhawa, who recently finished in a tie for seventh at the Dubai Desert Classic but has missed the cut at his other four European Tour events this year.

Last week's winner, Anton Haig, was brought back down to earth after his victory at the Johnnie Walker Classic as the South African youngster quadruple-bogeyed the second in a dismal round of 81 on the Classic that put him 11-over-par for the tournament.

There was no joy for the rest of the Irish contingent, who all missed the cut which came at 142.

Damien McGrane and Gary Murphy missed out by just one shot after rounds of 73 and 70 respectively, while Darren Clarke was well off the target after a second round 73 for 147.

(British unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72)

133 - J Randhawa (Ind) 65 68.

134 - B Hume 65 69.

135 - I Steel (Mal) 70 65, G Lockerbie 68 67.

136 - P Lawrie 66 70, L Wen-Chong (Chn) 64 68.

137 - M Fraser (Aus) 64 73.

138 - G Ghei (Ind) 68 70, T Jaidee (Tha) 69 69, A Coltart, 69 69.

139 - M Pilkington 72 67, M Zions (Aus) 68 71, S Khan 69 70, J-F Lucquin (Fra) 69 70, R Bain 69 70, A Que (Phi) 66 73, J Van De Velde (Fra) 68 71, M Kaymer (Ger) 66 73, M Brown (Nzl) 66 73, S Barr (Aus) 70 69, R Bland 72 67, F Molinari (Ita) 69 70, L Wen-Tang (Tpe) 69 70.

140 - A Wall 68 72, F Minoza (Phi) 69 71, P Price 69 71, R Fisher 74 66, S Dyson 71 69, A Blyth (Aus) 67 73, D Lynn 72 68, S Webster 71 69, R Gangjee (Ind) 72 68, G Storm 66 74, C Phadungsil (Tha) 69 71, P Senior (Aus) 70 70, H Buhrmann (Rsa) 71 69, D Carter 74 66.

141 - S Hend (Aus) 71 70, M Mamat (Sin) 68 73, M Both (Aus) 72 69, L Keng-Chi (Tpe) 73 68, G Simpson (Aus) 69 72, S Yates 68 73, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 69 72, T Lascuna (Phi) 69 72, O Wilson 69 72, P O'Malley (Aus) 71 70, C Rodiles (Spa) 71 70, C Smith 72 69, S Katayama (Jpn) 65 76, SM Lee (Kor) 69 72, R Rock 71 70, G Rosales (Phi) 72 69, M Foster 76 65.

142 - B Rumford (Aus) 68 74, S Strange (Aus) 69 73, S Webster 69 73, A Canete (Arg) 70 72, N Dougherty 70 72, C Plaphol (Tha) 75 67, D Griffiths 74 68, L Wei-Chih (Tpe) 70 72, A Groom (Aus) 70 72, R-J Derksen (Ned) 73 69, J Backstrom (Swe) 73 69, B Kennedy (Aus) 68 74, J Milkha Singh (Ind) 69 73, S Dodd 69 73, S Jong-Yul (Kor) 69 73, P Meesawat (Tha) 71 71, G Orr 71 71.

Missed the cut (selected): 143 - L Westwood 70 73, I Woosnam 73 70, D McGrane 70 73, G Murphy 73 70, P Lawrie 71 72. 144 - D Howell 71 73. 147- Darren Clarke 74 73.

Second Round Scores