Colin Montgomerie shared the six-under-par lead, Padraig Harrington, Thomas Bjorn and Phillip Price were well in contention only three shots off the pace, and Bernhard Langer was four away.
But there was gloom for some of European captain Sam Torrance’s men. Five players made the cut of the 10 present at The Belfry and five missed the weekend.
Despite improving with a one-under-par 71, the 2000 European number one Lee Westwood struggled with his opening 79.
Darren Clarke, who is expected to be his partner against the Americans, missed the weekend by a stroke after bogeying the last. Clarke cited “a touch of tonsillitis” for his indifferent two rounds of 74 and 73.
Fellow Irishman Paul McGinley fared the worst, however.
After finishing tied second in the event at The Belfry last year, McGinley slumped to an 81, one of the worst rounds of his career, and 11-over-par, nine strokes worse than the cut.
Swede Niclas Fasth was not far behind, plummeting to an 80 in the second round and six-over for the tournament. Fasth just needed a par at the last but ran up a quadruple-bogey eight, visiting the lake at the 18th twice.
Fellow Swede Pierre Fulke, playing with Montgomerie, made a brave bid to stay in the tournament and hit back from an early double-bogey.
Leading second round scores (par-72, Britain unless stated):
138 — Colin Montgomerie 71, 67; Roger Wessels (South Africa) 69, 69; Greg Owen 66, 72.
139 — Ian Woosnam 67, 72; Peter Baker 71, 68; John Daly (US) 70, 69; Anthony Wall 68, 71; Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 70, 69.
140 — John Bickerton 72, 68; Peter O’Malley (Australia) 70, 70; Peter Fowler (Australia) 71, 69; David Drysdale 71, 69.
141 — Raphael Jacquelin (France) 71, 70; Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 71, 70; Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 68, 73; Phillip Price 71, 70; Steve Webster 73, 68; Barry Lane 69, 72; Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 71, 70; Darren Lee 70, 71.
142 — Malcolm Mackenzie 72, 70; Santiago Luna (Spain) 72, 70; Rolf Muntz (Netherlands) 71, 71; Bernhard Langer (Germany) 72, 70; Richard Green (Australia) 73, 69.
143 — Paul Lawrie 73, 70; Eduardo Romero (Argentina) 71, 72; Des Smyth (Ireland) 73, 70; Sandy Lyle 69, 74; Stephen Scahill (New Zealand) 72, 71; Richard S. Johnson (Sweden) 73, 70; Alastair Forsyth 71, 72; David Lynn 73, 70; Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 72, 71; Peter Senior (Australia) 71, 72; Mark Foster 71, 72.
IRVING (Texas): Shigeki Maruyama equalled the lowest score of his career when he fired a seven-under-par 63 Friday to take a two-shot lead after the second round of the $4.8 million Byron Nelson Classic.
The 32-year-old Japanese player finished with a 10-under-par total of 130, two clear of Jim Carter (67) and Paul Stankowski (65). World No. 2 Phil Mickelson was a further stroke adrift on 133 alongside Jeff Maggert, Lee Janzen and Bryce Molder.
John Rollins, Joe Durant, Frank Lickliter, John Huston, Mexican Esteban Toledo and Per-Ulrik Johansson of Sweden shared eighth position on 134. World No. 1 Tiger Woods carded a five-under-par 65 to finish on 136.
Maruyama had a rush of birdies on both nines on the TPC at Four Seasons course.
He strung together four straight birdies to the eighth hole on the outward half before reeling off four more between the 14th and 17th.
Stankowski, a resident of nearby Flower Mound, Texas, has had his best back-to-back rounds of the year — 67 and 65.
Leading second round scores (US unless stated):
130 — Shigeki Maruyama (Japan) 67, 63.
132 — Jim Carter 65, 67; Paul Stankowski 67, 65.
133 — Phil Mickelson 69, 64; Jeff Maggert 66, 67; Lee Janzen 64, 69; Bryce Molder 63, 70.
134 — John Rollins 69, 65; Joe Durant 63, 71; Esteban Toledo (Mexico) 64, 70; Frank Lickliter II 64, 70; John Huston 68, 66; Per-Ulrik Johansson (Sweden) 65, 69.
135 — Loren Roberts 67, 68; Cameron Beckman 70, 65; Steve Stricker 69, 66; David Gossett 64, 71; Brian Henninger 67, 68; Rich Beem 68, 67; Peter Lonard (Australia) 69, 66; Nick Price (Zimbabwe) 64, 71; Brian Gay 68, 67; Franklin Langham 68, 67; Ben Crane 68, 67.
Other international players:
136 — Phil Tataurangi (New Zealand) 68, 68.
137 — Craig Perks (New Zealand) 68, 69; David Frost (South Africa) 66, 72.
138 — Robert Allenby (Australia) 69, 69; Tim Clark (South Africa) 70, 68.
139 — Paul Gow (Australia) 70, 69; Deane Pappas (South Africa) 66, 73; Hidemichi Tanaka (Japan) 71, 68; Jesper Parnevik (Sweden) 71, 68.
140 — Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 70, 70; Stephen Ames (Canada) 70, 70; K.J. Choi (South Korea) 70, 70; Vijay Singh (Fiji) 69, 71; Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 73, 67; John Senden (Australia) 72, 68.
142 — Grant Waite (New Zealand) 70, 72; Luke Donald (Britain) 69, 73; Frank Nobilo (New Zealand) 73, 69.
143 — Sergio Garcia (Spain) 69, 74; Rod Pampling (Australia) 69, 74.
144 — Fulton Allem (South Africa) 70, 74.
145 — Jose Coceres (Argentina) 71, 74; Brian Watts (Canada) 72, 73.
146 — Craig Parry (Australia) 73, 73.
148 — Glen Hnatiuk (Canada) 76, 72.
149 — Mike Weir (Canada) 75, 74.
151 — Steve Allan (Australia) 76, 75.—Reuters