In his own words, Lee Westwood was "shattered" and "running on empty" today, but it did not ruin his hopes of making a successful defence of the Quinn Insurance British Masters at The Belfry. After a fog delay of more than three hours Westwood added a 70 to his opening 68 for a six-under-par total of 138.
When play was called off for the day on "Pink Friday" - the players were helping to raise money for breast cancer charities - he led in the clubhouse by one from Scotland's Marc Warren, Spaniard Alejandro Canizares and Thai Thongchai Jaidee.
Among those still to complete their second rounds, however, was Jeev Milkha Singh, also six under with six holes to go after becoming the third player in the day to have a hole-in-one.
Like England's Phillip Archer, the Indian aced the 177-yard seventh, while Spaniard Alvaro Quiros sank his tee shot to the 208-yard 12th.
All three were given a magnum of champagne, but on Sunday nearest the pin at the 12th wins a Jaguar car.
Colin Montgomerie improved 12 strokes on his opening 81, but on six over was looking at his seventh missed cut of the season, while Darren Clarke is heading for an early exit as well at seven over with seven to play.
One of only two members of last week's beaten Ryder Cup team playing in the event - Graeme McDowell is the other and after a tired-looking 75 for three over he has to wait until the morning to discover whether he makes the cut or not - Westwood has a great opportunity to close in on Padraig Harrington at the top of the Order of Merit.
Westwood mixed two birdies with three bogeys in his first five holes, but a hat-trick of birdies at the start of the front nine shot him up the leaderboard.
"I would hope to play better tomorrow," he said. "I made a big effort and my scrambling was good. I've worked hard on my short game and when I'm feeling a bit lethargic it can get me out of a bit of trouble."
McDowell was unable to reproduce his form of last week in Louisville.
"I don't know how to deal with this 'come down' feeling. Lee has learned how to deal with things better than I have," commented the Ulsterman. "Physically, I'm probably not all there, but mentally, definitely - if last week was 11 out of 10 then I'm five out of 10 this week."
Dubliner Peter Lawrie still has a chance of playing his way out of trouble after finishing three over after 10 holes. Damien McGrane also managed just 10 holes today but on eight over he has a job on tomorrow to salvage his tournament.
Rory McIlroy remains best placed of the Irish on level par through 13, with Paul McGinley two shots further back after a second 73.
Clarke shot an 80 yesterday and that score was replicated by Gary Murphy (10 over) and 'bettered' by David Higgins, whose 81 saw him slump to 15-over-par.
