PARAPARAUMU BEACH, Jan 11: World number one Tiger Woods found the going tough on the second day of the New Zealand Open Friday as he finished with a two-over 73 for a two round score of 143, eight shots behind leaders Australians James McLean and Stephen Leaney.

The swirling, gusty winds, in contrast to the first day’s near perfect weather, made low scoring difficult, with the conditions appearing to favour the early starters.

Teeing off late, with an overnight score of one-under-par 70, Woods started bogey, birdie, double bogey on his first three holes, and once again found the greens his greatest challenge.

But second day honours went to the early starters with McLean and Leaney back in the clubhouse with two round tallies of 135, seven-under par, before half the field had teed off.

A run of four consecutive birdies on the homeward nine saw Leaney finish with the day’s equal best round, a four-under 67.

Woods’ difficult day must have given the event’s organisers some nervous moments as their main drawcard at times teetered perilously close to the cut zone.

He seemed no clearer on how to master the greens in the second round than the first, and an adventure in the rough on the par-four third saw him make double bogey.

Leading scores after the second round:

135 James McLean (Australia) 65 70, Stephen Leaney (Australia) 68 67

136 Adam Groom (Australia-am) 69 67, Steve Alker 66 70, Craig Parry (Australia) 67 69 137 Brett Rumford (Australia) 66 71

138 Scott Gardiner (Australia) 64 74, Andrew Bonhomme (Australia) 70 68, Jon Riley (Australia) 69 69

139 Eddie Barr (Ireland) 71 68, Justin Cooper (Australia) 69 70, Martin Doyle (Australia) 69 70, Nick O’Hern (Australia) 68 71, Michael Campbell 67 72, Anthony Painter (Australia) 68 71, Wayne Smith (Australia) 70 69

140 Marcus Norgren (Sweden) 71 69, Andrew Tschudin (Australia) 69 71, Neil Kerry (Australia) 69 71, Craig Spence (Australia) 67 73

Other score: 143 Tiger Woods 70 73—Reuters