PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla., May 7 (UPI) -- Lee Westwood, seeking what would be the most significant victory of his career, took the lead Friday at the midway point of the Players Championship.
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson both came closer to missing the cut than challenging for the lead, and even though they survived to play on the weekend they found themselves nine shots behind Westwood.
Westwood, who finished second behind Mickelson at last month's Masters, shot a 7-under 65 at the TPC-Sawgrass Stadium Course before the afternoon winds began to blow. That put him at 12-under 132 for 36 holes.
He had a one-shot advantage over Ryuji Imada, Francesco Molinari and Heath Slocum, who won the first of the PGA Tour's four playoff tournaments last year.
Lucas Glover, who will defend his U.S. Open title next month at Pebble Beach, was alone in fifth at 135. Robert Allenby, Ben Crane, Charley Hoffman and Luke Donald were all at 136.
It took an unexpectedly low score of 2-under 142 to make the cut and those who missed out included Ernie Els, Angel Cabrera, Ian Poulter, Vijay Singh, Camilo Villegas, Geoff Ogilvy, Padraig Harrington, defending champion Henrik Stenson and Rory McIlroy, who was unable to follow up on his victory last week at the Quail Hollow Championship.
Woods and Mickelson both shot a 1-under 71 and completed 36 holes at 141. They will be trailing 45 players when the third round gets under way.
Woods, who missed the cut last week for only the sixth time in his pro career, continued to struggle in his third appearance of the year. He hit a tee shot at the par-4 14th so far right that it sailed over some large mounds and into a lake that Woods did not know existed until his ball wound up in it. Woods made a double bogey on the hole.
"I tried to stop it (the swing), but I was actually at a point where I was so far down that physically I couldn't do it," Woods said.
Mickelson avoided any major blunders, but made only two birdies.
"It was a frustrating day," he said. "I didn't get it going."
