For Padraig Harrington, the voyage of discovery has not only started, it has reached the critical stage where stern questions are asked - and demand to be answered.

Yesterday, on a day that started out wet and gloomy with the smell of rotting pine needles inflaming nostrils, the Dubliner demonstrated sufficient mettle to earn the right to be considered what is known in the business as "a contender"; the tough part, however, comes over the weekend in attempting to turn mere contention into something more tangible. It's a time when titles are won, and lost.

Vijay Singh, who assumed the midway lead, has been there before, and few are more capable than the Fijian of finishing the job when it is asked of them.

The champion here in 2000, Singh started the morning diligently hitting balls on the range but, in truth, was waiting for word that play had been suspended because of the rain that fell incessantly through the night and into the morning, leaving many fairways saturated.

The call didn't come, yet once he was compelled into action - and watched playing partner Thomas Bjorn reel off five successive birdies to start with, a championship record - Singh produced some majestic golf, mainly on the back nine which he finished in eagle-par-birdie-birdie for a 65 and a midway total of nine-under-par 135.

For Harrington, though, a second round 70 for five-under-par 139 was a more than satisfactory follow-up to his first day endeavours, leaving him on the same total as Sergio Garcia and Angel Cabrera.

"I stuck at it and my focus was good," he insisted.

But it proved to be a rather disappointing round for Darren Clarke who, after moving to the fringes of contention, bogeyed two of the last three holes for a 74, to be on the level par 144 mark at the midway stage.

The two other Irish players in the field were gamely battling to survive the cut. At 4.55pm (local time) a heavy thunderstorm caused play to be suspended, at which stage Paul McGinley was one over for the tournament and Michael Hoey was four over, right on the projected cut.

Although the overnight and early-morning rain made the course play longer, it also made the greens a good deal more receptive.

"In fact," remarked Harrington, "there wasn't too much mud on the ball, so that wasn't a problem. There was so much surface water that the ball tended to skid along the top and wiped it clean."

Indeed, it wasn't until the later starters were making their way through the pines and dogwoods that there was no longer the need to gingerly move the ball from casual water.

Such conditions are part and parcel of the game, and they didn't affect Harrington. On the opening hole, an indication of how relaxed he was about the task at hand came in the execution of a near-perfect birdie: a seven-iron approach to two feet, and a simple tap-in birdie.

However, as Harrington pursued his quest to be a major player, there were ups and downs to follow. "I made three bad decisions," he admitted.

The first came on the fourth, where he opted to chip instead of putt from the fringe of the green. He incurred a bogey. The second poor decision came on the 13th - where, for the second day running, he suffered a bogey - when he putted from off the green instead of chipped.

And the third poor decision resulted in another bogey, at the 17th, where he was entitled to a drop from casual water but opted to play the ball and put the approach into a bunker.

There was a degree of poor luck about the 13th, though. After a perfect drive, and with 238 yards to the flag, he hit a five-wood approach. It pitched two feet from the flag, but ran to the back of the green.

"When the ball was in the air, I was thinking eagle," he later remarked. "Instead, I made a bogey - but that is Augusta, and you just have to remain patient. It will happen again and again."

His initial putt from off the green there surprised him when it jumped from the collar, skidding past the hole and down a ridge to 60 feet away, from where he three-putted.

But there was much to admire about his play. Throughout the front nine, he gave himself chances - but didn't take any until the ninth, where he hit a six-iron approach to 15 feet. The putt had a vicious, four-foot swing, but he dispatched it into the hole.

And, on the 10th, he hit a five-iron approach from a downslope to 10 feet, and rolled in the putt.

His other birdies came at the 14th, where he hit seven-iron to four feet, and at the 15th, when his 20-foot eagle putt lipped out.

"I don't feel uncomfortable with the position that I am in," said Harrington. "I am too busy worrying about myself than the position I find myself in. I am not feeling great over the ball, so I am just clued into that. It is the only thing I am thinking about. I am totally engrossed in what I am doing."

One of the more remarkable aspects of the second round's play was the failure of the American challenge to gain any real momentum. Davis Love, the overnight leader, fell away to a 75 - to be on two-under - while Phil Mickelson flattered only to deceive. He got to five-under at one point, but fell back to finish on three-under.

"I thought the golf course is playing as susceptible to birdies as it can," Mickelson said of the soft course conditions.

"It is understandable how Vijay could shoot 65."

"And Tiger Woods had only picked up one shot - to move to three-under - in the 10 holes he had played before play was suspended.

Meanwhile, Retief Goosen, who had reached six-under after 11 holes of his second round, was the closest on-course challenger to Singh.

Singh, who had watched Bjorn start off with his string of birdies, was the man who took a grip on the tournament, coming back in 30 strokes on his way to that 65.

"I wasn't really thinking about shooting a low number. I wasn't even aware that I'd shot 30 coming in until I was filling in my score card."

He inflicted the damage on the final four holes. An eagle three on the 15th - where he holed a 25-footer - was followed by a 15-footer for birdie on the 17th and an eight-footer on the 18th.

"All I want to do from now on is to keep my focus, and not worry about winning the golf tournament," he said.

Agusta scores: Early second round scores:

(US unless stated, par 72)

135 (9 under)

Vijay Singh (Fiji) 70 65

139 (5 under)

Padraig Harrington (Ire) 69 70

Sergio Garcia (Spa) 68 71

140 (4 under)

Angel Cabrera (Arg) 68 72

141 (3 under)

Phil Mickelson 69 72

Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 70 71

Thomas Bjorn (Den) 74 67

142 (2 under)

Davis Love 67 75

143 (1 under)

Robert Allenby (Aus) 73 70

Rocco Mediate 75 68

Mike Weir (Can) 72 71

144 (level)

Darren Clarke (NIre) 70 74

Stewart Cink 74 70

145 (1 over)

Bob Estes 73 72

Justin Leonard 70 75

Billy Mayfair 74 71

Brad Faxon 71 74

Craig Stadler 73 72

146 (2 over)

Bernhard Langer (Ger) 73 73

Nick Price (Zim) 70 76

Steve Lowery 75 71

Fred Couples 73 73

Tom Pernice 74 72

Lee Westwood (Eng) 75 71

147 (3 over)

John Daly 74 73

David Toms 73 74

Tom Watson 71 76

Shigeki Maruyama (Jap) 75 72

148 (4 over)

Joe Durant 74 74

Larry Mize 74 74

Paul Azinger 75 73

149 (5 over)

Mark O'Meara 78 71

Lee Janzen 74 75

150 (6 over)

Jim Furyk 73 77

Shingo Katayama (Jap) 78 72

Kenny Perry 76 74

Billy Andrade 75 75

Tom Kite 77 73

151 (7 over)

Niclas Fasth (Swe) 76 75

Steve Stricker 75 76

154 (10 over)

Sandy Lyle (Sco) 73 81

155 (11 over)

Ian Woosnam (Wal) 77 78

156 (12 over)

Seve Ballesteros (Spa) 75 81

157 (13 over)

Tommy Aaron 79 78

159 (15 over)

Stuart Appleby (Aus) 80 79

160 (16 over)

Chez Reavie 74 86

166 (22 over)

Charles Coody 82 84

Withdrawn: Frank Lickliter, Hal Sutton.