A second-round charge from Ian Poulter put the Englishman firmly in contention in the second round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale in Arizona.
Poulter, who won the WGC-Accenture Matchplay Championship last Sunday, bounced back from a disappointing first-round 72 by shooting an eight-under-par 63. His early round including eight birdies and he completed the first nine holes in just 30 shots.
Poulter capped his round by holing a 13-foot birdie to end seven under overall.
He had tweeted after his first round: “May have been a mistake to play this week, the tank was empty.”
One shot behind, on six under for 36 holes, was Phil Mickelson, who completed his second 68 among the early finishers.
First-round leader Camilo Villegas fired a tournament record-equalling 62 on Thursday.
Villegas bounced back from his disappointment at the Matchplay Championship.
The 28-year-old Colombian, who missed a three-foot putt that would have put him in the Matchplay final last weekend, equalled the tournament’s first-round record for a one-shot lead over American Matt Every, a former University team-mate.
England’s Justin Rose, Mark Wilson, Japan’s Ryuji Imada, Rickie Fowler and Pat Perez were three strokes adrift, on 65, in superb conditions.
Villegas teed off on 10 and capped his round by chipping in from 21 feet on the par-four ninth for his ninth birdie.
The Colombian, who won twice on the PGA Tour in 2008, put his strong start to this season down to a more relaxed approach to the game.
“I was getting a little too concerned with my world ranking position and money list and this and that,” Villegas said, “and I just got a little tight on the golf course. So I needed to put all those things aside and remember that I’m playing golf for a living, and there’s a million people out there that would love to be in my shoes.”
Part of that is being able to shrug off a missed putt like the one that saw him fall to Paul Casey in the Matchplay semi-finals.
Every, who earned his tour card by winning last year’s Nationwide Tour Championship, also had a bogey-free round.
Meanwhile, Tiger Woods was dropped by sports drink brand Gatorade on Friday, the latest corporate sponsorship he has lost since details of his adulterous affairs surfaced late last year.
“We no longer see a role for Tiger in our marketing efforts and have ended our relationship,” a spokeswoman for PepsiCo’s Gatorade said.
“Our partnership with the Tiger Woods Foundation will continue. We wish him all the best.”
Gatorade decided before the sex scandal that it would drop its 'Tiger Focus’ drink.
AT&T and Accenture already have dropped their sponsorships, while Gillette has distanced itself from Woods.
He is estimated to have earned $100million annually in endorsement deals before his confession on Dec 11 of “infidelity” and his subsequent televised apology.
Other sponsors, such as Electronic Arts, have moved ahead with endorsement plans. The games publisher will introduce the next version of its Woods console game in June.
Nike Brand president Charlie Denson also said on Friday that the sports goods maker would stick by Woods, who will remain one of the company’s “major contributors”.
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