CARNOUSTIE (Scotland), July 20: Sergio Garcia fought increasing winds and conjured some magic to maintain his two-stroke lead after nine holes in the British Open second round on Friday.

The Spaniard led by two overnight after a six-under-par 65 but looked sure to drop at least one stroke after pushing his approach to the 406-yard first hole into thick rough.

With a bunker guarding the putting surface and precious little green to play with, the 27-year-old somehow contrived to float the ball up with his most lofted wedge and land it gently just over the sand and it rolled to within a foot of the hole.

He then tapped in for par.

Garcia, who left the course in tears eight years ago after an opening 89, dropped his first shot at the fourth when he three-putted from the edge of the green but made amends with a birdie at the long sixth having reached in two.

Three solid pars secured as winds around the Scottish east coast links began to pick up took him to the turn in level-par 36. That left him two clear of the late-starting Irishman Paul McGinley.

American Jim Furyk briefly joined McGinley at four under but lost ground at the 466-yard 10th. Furyk badly pushed his approach to the right and the ball would have landed in a burn had it not ricocheted off an iron bridge and bounced back into the rough.

However, he could not make the most of his good fortune and took three more for a bogey five. With three to play he still lay on three under alongside compatriot Boo Weekley who was level for the day after seven.

Phil Mickelson slipped three shots to the 12th to fall back to three over overall, perilously close to missing the cut. Ernie Els shot a 70 to move level for the tournament while Luke Donald slumped to a 76 for a four-over tally of 146 after carding an eight and two sixes.

Second round scores:

136 - Sergio Garcia (ESP) 65-71

139 - Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP) 69-70

140 - Jim Furyk (USA) 70-70, Boo Weekley (USA) 68-72

141 - Andres Romero (ARG) 71-70, Angel Cabrera (ARG) 68-73, Lee Westwood (ENG) 71-70, Alastair Forsyth (SCO) 70-71

142 - Paul Broadhurst (ENG) 71-71, Ernie Els (RSA) 72-70, Padraig Harrington (IRL) 69-73,

143 - Lucas Glover (USA) 71-72, Vijay Singh (FIJ) 72-71, Pat Perez (USA) 73-70, Nick Watney (USA) 72-71,

144 - Jerry Kelly (USA) 74-70, Mark Calcavecchia (USA) 74-70, Peter Hanson (SWE) 70-74, Niclas Fasth (SWE) 75-69, Rory McIlroy (NIR -a) 68-76, Arron Oberholser (USA) 73-71, Toru Taniguchi (JPN) 72-72, Charley Hoffman (USA) 75-69,

145 - Anders Hansen (DEN) 72-73, Richard Green (AUS) 72-73, Nick Dougherty (ENG) 71-74, Jonathan Byrd (USA) 73-72,

146 - Sandy Lyle (SCO) 73-73, Shaun Micheel (USA) 70-76, Luke Donald (ENG) 70-76, Sean O'Hair (USA) 71-75, Brian Davis (ENG) 74-72, Ben Curtis (USA) 72-74, Zach Johnson (USA) 73-73, Mark O'Meara (USA) 74-72, Jon Bevan (ENG) 73-73,

147 - Matthew Zions (AUS) 72-75, Henrik Stenson (SWE) 71-76, Tom Pernice (USA) 74-73, Johan Edfors (SWE) 72-75

148 - David Toms (USA) 71-77, Phil Mickelson (USA) 71-77, Brett Quigley (USA) 72-76, Terry Pilkadaris (AUS) 74-74, Benn Barham (ENG) 75-73

149 - Ross Fisher (ENG) 74-75, Brett Wetterich (USA) 75-74, David Frost (RSA) 74-75, Charles Howell (USA) 73-76, Chad Campbell (USA) 74-75, Achi Sato (JPN) 71-78, Loren Roberts (USA) 74-75, Steve Alker (NZL) 74-75

150 - Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 75-75, John Daly (USA) 74-76, Bradley Dredge (WAL) 76-74, Rory Sabbatini (USA) 76-74, Graeme McDowell (NIR) 77-73, Francesco Molinari (ITA) 76-74, Paul Sheehan (AUS) 75-75.—Agencies