By Ben James Jun 20, 2009, 3:22 GMT
Farmingdale, New York - American Lucas Glover produced a stunning run of form in the late evening sunshine as he headed the leaderboard early in the second round of the US Open on Friday.
The 29-year-old picked up six birdies in a flawless exhibition to end the day on 6-under-par through 13 holes, one shot clear of another American, Ricky Barnes, and two ahead of Peter Hanson of Sweden and Canadian Mike Weir.
Adam Scott and Phil Mickelson are handily placed on 2-under and 1- under respectively midway through their second rounds, while defending champion Tiger Woods has work to do after a first-round 74, 4-over.
After the deluge of day one, when 78 players did not even start their opening rounds, the sunshine and soft greens made for good scoring from those who got the luck of the draw.
Glover had finished his first round on 1-under but as the day drew to a close, he found his form in style, picking up five birdies, at the 10th, 13th and 18th, and then on the 1st and 3rd.
Barnes, a relatively unknown American player, was just one shot back after adding two birdies in his first eight holes of round two to his first round of 67.
Former Masters champion Weir led for much of the afternoon after he surged to 6-under with a first-round 64, a round marred only by a double-bogey at the 6th.
But bogeys at the 5th and 9th holes dropped him back to 4-under through nine holes, the same as Swede Peter Hanson.
Australian Adam Scott looked in good form as he finished the day on 2-under through 11 holes, while Mickelson is just one shot worse off with seven holes still to play.
The left-hander double-bogeyed the second hole in his second round but three birdies in four holes lifted him up the leaderboard and well into contention.
Woods was playing well to be level par with four holes to play of round one, only to let things slip and finish with a 74, 10 shots off the pace.
'I was even-par with four to go,' Woods said. 'I mean, it's not like I was hitting it all over the place. I was hitting a lot of good shots. Unfortunately, I just didn't finish off the round the way I needed to.'
Former Open champion David Duval is right up there on the leaderboard at 1-under. The American shot 67 in the morning and then recovered from a horrific start to round two - when he bogeyed four of the first six holes - to be 1-under after 12.
Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy were 1-over through 11 and 12 holes respectively, while two-time former champion Retief Goosen was one shot behind.
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