MIYAZAKI (Japan), Nov 22: World number one Tiger Woods fired a three-under-par 68 but missed a handful of birdie putts to finish eight strokes off the lead after the second round of the $1.65 million Dunlop Phoenix tournament on Friday.

Meanwhile, Sergio Garcia birdied three of the last four holes in a 68 and Justin Rose carded a 69 to reach the clubhouse on seven-under-par 135, four strokes adrift of halfway leader Kaname Yokoo at the par-71 Phoenix Country Club in Miyazaki.

Yokoo, who played in the U.S. this year but failed to retain his tour card for 2003, produced a superb bogey-free round of 65 to improve to 11-under-par and leave Woods with some work to do over the weekend.

The Masters and U.S. Open champion could have closed the gap on Yokoo but allowed makeable birdie putts to slip by on the ninth, 11th and 12th holes in a bogey-free round that never really caught fire.

A chip-in eagle on the par-five fourth — where Woods hit a glorious three-wood from the fairway rough to the front edge and chipped in with a sand-wedge — had briefly threatened to spark a charge from the American.

But Woods, making his third appearance in Japan after the 1998 Casio World Open and the World Cup of golf last year, was forced to save par with a breaking 10-foot putt on the eighth and had to wait until the 16th for his only other birdie.

Leading second round scores (Japanese unless stated):

131 Kaname Yokoo 66 65

135 Justin Rose (Britain) 66 69, Sergio Garcia (Spain) 67 68, Zaw Moe (Myanmar) 68 67

136 Darren Clarke (Britain) 64 72, Tsukasa Watanabe 66 70, Hiroyuki Fujita 68 68, Nozomi Kawahara 68 68

138 David Duval (U.S.) 69 69, Shingo Katayama 70 68, Toshimitsu Izawa 71 67, Kim Jong-duck (South Korea) 68 70, Tateo Ozaki 68 70, Hirofumi Miyase 67 71, Ho Suk-ho (South Korea) 67 71, Masayuki Kawamura 72 66, Nobuhito Sato 70 68, Naomichi Ozaki 67 71

139 Tiger Woods (U.S.) 71 68, Lee Westwood (Britain) 71 68, Yasuharu Imano 70 69, Katsumasa Miyamoto 68 71, Masashi Ozaki 67 72

DUTCHMAN SURGES AHEAD