Golf: There was no relief here yesterday for those who shot regulation figures in their Scottish Open second rounds in the morning in the hope that Ernie Els would slide back to them in trickier afternoon conditions.

Once again the big South African was not to be denied by the murk and the gloom that accompanied a day of steady mist and light rain over the famous Loch Lomond course. He carded a 67, four under par, although this score was bettered later by a 66 from John Daly.

It left him on 131 at halfway as he doubled his lead to four shots over Phillip Price, the Welshman who continues to score well even if he feels he is not playing well. Three birdies in the last five holes helped one of Europe's Ryder Cup heroes - for his singles victory over Phil Mickelson last year- to reach seven under par.

"Ernie's playing well but if I can turn my game up a notch, you never know," said Price. Els took a few holes to get on track, four to be precise, and then the birdies started to flow. He holed from 10 feet at the short fifth, from four feet at the 625-yard sixth and from three feet at the seventh.

Just to show he is mortal, he missed a three-foot birdie at the short eight and he bogeyed the 12th, his first dropped shot of the week. But he birdied the next two before collecting pars the rest of the way in.

Colin Montgomerie's frustrations on greens that he had praised to the skies before the tournament continued in his 70 for 141. "I hit every fairway again. That's 28 out of 28 in two rounds now. I hit most greens and two-putted most of them," he smouldered, maintaining that the greens were not as good as last year.

But he was able to shoulder some of the blame himself. "I've made only two birdies each day and that is not enough. I haven't been putting well enough. I've got to address the putting because you can't win with two birdies a round."

Two double-bogeys left Darren Clarke in a share of ninth place on three-under-par 139 after a second round 70, the same mark as Gary Murphy.

Clarke double-bogeyed the fifth and the 13th where he lost his ball off the tee-shot. But five birdies kept him in touch.

Murphy is very much in line for a place in the British Open if he continues to play the game of the first two days. Yesterday he shot five birdies in a round of 69 that keeps him in line for one of the eight places available for the British Open.

Graeme McDowell added a second 71 for 142 while Paul McGinley also made the cut after a second round 71 left him one inside the cut which came at 145.

When Phil Mickelson completed his second round in 68, eight strokes fewer than on Thursday, it looked as if that would still not be good enough to make the cut, which at that time was one over par with the American on two over.

But as the scores grew during the afternoon, Mickelson's wish for a few more competitive rounds of golf to take into the Open Championship was granted.