ORLANDO (Florida), March 15: Holder Vijay Singh showed no ill-effects from a recent stomach virus to fire a five-under-par 65 and take the lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational second round on Friday.

The Fijian was nine under par overall, two shots ahead of Swede Carl Pettersson (65). Britain’s Lee Westwood (68) was third on six under along with Americans Ken Duke and Jim Furyk at the Bay Hill Club.

World No 1 Tiger Woods was seven shots off the lead, tied for 20th place.

Singh started on the back nine and birdied the 12th, 13th and 14th holes but the highlight was a chip-in from just off the sixth green for an eagle three.

His performance was all the more commendable given he nearly withdrew through food poisoning. Singh said he lost more than 8 kg due to sickness following the Johnnie Walker Classic in India earlier this month.

Woods lamented a poor putting display but said he was still in contention for his fifth title at Bay Hill.

Leading second-round scores:

131 – Vijay Singh (Fiji) 66, 65

133 – Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 68, 65.

134 – Ken Duke (US) 67, 67; Jim Furyk (US) 67, 67; Lee Westwood (Britain) 66, 68.

135 – J.J. Henry (US) 65, 70; Cliff Kresge (US) 67, 68; Tom Lehman (US) 66, 69; Vaughn Taylor (US) 68, 67.

136 – Bart Bryant (US) 68, 68; Chad Campbell (US) 68, 68; Sergio Garcia (Spain) 70-66, D.A. Points (US) 68, 68; Nick Watney (US) 69, 67; Bubba Watson (US) 67, 69.

137 – Alex Cejka (Germany) 67, 70; Niclas Fasth (Sweden) 71, 66; Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 73, 64; Dustin Johnson (US) 68, 69.

138 – Tim Clark (South Africa) 68, 70; Matthew Jones (Australia) 70, 68; Tiger Woods (US) 70, 68.

139 – Brian Davis (Britain) 75, 64; Richard Johnson (Britain) 69, 70; Andres Romero (Argentina) 68, 71; Camilo Villegas (Colombia) 69, 70.

140 – Richard Sterne (South Africa) 69, 71.

141 – Retief Goosen (South Africa) 70, 71; Fredrik Jacobson (Sweden) 71, 70; Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 72, 69.

142 – Stephen Ames (Canada) 74, 68; Steve Elkington (Australia) 74, 68; Pablo Martin (Spain) 71, 71; Ian Poulter (Britain) 72, 70; John Senden (Australia) 70, 72.—Agencies