Indian Masters: Ireland's Damien McGrane has clearly rid himself of any lingering thoughts from last week's 'Tiger Effect' by opening up a two shot lead in the early stages of the second of the inaugural Indian Masters in Delhi.

In last week's Dubai Desert classic the Meath man was paired with Woods for the final two rounds. And while McGrane outscored the world number one on the third day, he slumped to a final round 79 as Woods went on to record his seventh win in eight starts.

There have been no such worries for the 36-year-old at the tight tree-lined Delhi Golf Club as a second round 69 moved McGrane to eight-under and two ahead of compatriot Graeme McDowell (69), South Africa's Hendrik Buhrmann (69) and France's Raphael Jacquelin (69), who are all tied for second.

In chilly conditions, McGrane, ranked 311 in the world, dropped an early shot at the 11th, his second. However he recovered to reach the turn in level par.

On the front nine one bogey was quickly erased with four more birdies and McGrane was more than happy with his day's work.

"I backed up yesterday's round with a good round today. I played a lot of good shots and gave myself a lot of birdie chances. I seem to be birdie the more difficult holes than the easy ones, but you take the birdies whenever you can get them," said McGrane.

"It is very cold, it was a lot more difficult than it was yesterday so three-under-par is a good number and I am happy enough. The ball did lose a bit of distance with the cold, but if you hit the ball well you will have a lot of birdie chances.

"I have been playing well lately so all I had to do was keep going, hitting as many good shots as I can and I seemed to hole a few putts when I had the chances."

McDowell also continues the good form which saw him finish fifth in Dubai last week. The 28-year-old mixed four birdies with just one dropped shot at the 12th.

Darren Clarke is the only other Irishman in the field and he too had a good day at the office by matching McDowell and McGrane's 69s. A closing eagle at the par five 18th was the icing on the cake and at three-under Clarke finds himself in a tie for 12th.

Indian number one and home favourite, Jyoti Randhawa, had an uncharacteristic day as he relinquished his overnight lead with a poor 77 to drop back to two-under. A triple bogey seven at the sixth set the theme for Randhawa's day.

Ernie Els looks as though he has done enough to make it into the weekend. The big South African opened with a first round 75 then dropped to four-over early in today's round. However, an eagle three at the par five eighth went some way to boost his round of 70. At one-over par he should make the cut, which looks like settling at three-over.