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Miami - American Hunter Mahan's threat to run away with the Cadillac Championship on Friday stalled with two late bogeys.
Mahan had a four-stroke lead at one stage of the second round, but his two late miscues left him with a tenuous one-stroke edge over European guns Martin Kaymer and Francesco Molinari.
"You know, everything feels pretty good," Mahan said after a one-under-par 71 in a testing northerly breeze at Doral's Blue Monster.
The stern test offered by the course was a change from Thursday, when it proved a pushover in perfect conditions.
Mahan was at nine-under 135, with German Kaymer (70) and Italian Molinari (68) equal second on eight-under in the World Golf Championships event.
A crowded leaderboard revealed 10 players within three strokes, including Australian Aaron Baddeley, whose 66 was the day's best score.
One player conspicuously absent was Tiger Woods, who continued to look a pale shadow of his former great self, a 74 leaving him nine strokes off the pace at a course where he won three successive years from 2005-07.
Not that Kaymer really looked like the current world No. 1 either, as he readily admitted.
"I hit more bad shots than good shots but the good thing is my bad shots are still OK," Kaymer said. "I kept it together today, so obviously I'm very pleased."
Molinari, meanwhile, won the most recent WGC stroke play event, in China in November, so he's starting to make a habit of contending in big tournaments.
"It's great to win a WGC tournament and obviously it gives you a lot of confidence to pretty much win every tournament you play," he said, revealing how much he would like to win in the United States.
"It's always a bit different to win here in the States, for a European player. I'm putting and chipping very well, so it's feeling good.
"I enjoyed playing in the wind today. It was a bit trickier and hopefully we get some wind tomorrow and Sunday, as well."
Woods blamed his putter for his poor score and he had good reason, because he missed seven putts from inside 10 feet.
"Not one of my better putting rounds," he lamented. "I just can't hit the putts hard enough."
"When it was suggested to Woods that he did not look like he was having much fun on the course, he replied: "You're not going to have a lot of fun when you're nine back. I don't know if a lot of people are very happy with that, but I'm not."
At least Woods didn't have the distraction of the three Japanese players, who could not help but dwell on the devastating earthquake and tsunami in their homeland.
Even though their families were all reported to be safe, it was difficult to focus on golf.
"I tried my best to block out everything but, as you can imagine, it's a tough day," said Ryo Ishikawa, who was one stroke from the first round lead, before adding a second-round 76 to fall six back.
"It must be a very grave situation in Japan. Many players, such as Ernie Els and Vijay Singh, asked how was my family and showed a lot of concern, and I appreciated that."
Yuta Ikeda, who went to university in Sendai, the centre of the devastation, was visibly upset.
"It's my second hometown," he said. "To see what you had to see on TV was very difficult to take in."
Added Hiroyuki Fujita: "I couldn't believe it. It is not in this world."
Leading second-round scores here on Friday in the $8.75 million World Golf Championships Cadillac Championship (USA unless noted, par-72 course, no cut):
135 - Hunter Mahan 64-71
136 - Martin Kaymer (GER) 66-70, Francesco Molinari (ITA) 68-68
137 - Martin Laird (GBR) 67-70, Matt Kuchar 68-69, Nick Watney 67-70, Rory McIlroy (NIR) 68-69
138 - Aaron Baddeley (AUS) 72-66, Adam Scott (AUS) 68-70, Dustin Johnson 69-69
139 - Ernie Els (RSA) 69-70, Luke Donald (GBR) 67-72, Steve Stricker 68-71, Padraig Harrington (IRL) 68-71
140 - Kevin Streelman 68-72, D.A. Points 68-72, Anders Hansen (DEN) 71-69, Vijay Singh (FIJ) 68-72
141 - Ryo Ishikawa (JPN) 65-76, Paul Casey (GBR) 70-71
142 - Bill Haas 74-68, Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 71-71, K.J. Choi (KOR) 73-69, Charley Hoffman 67-75, Robert Karlsson (SWE) 69-73, Seung-yul Noh (KOR) 72-70, Camilo Villegas (COL) 71-71
...
143 - Thomas Aiken (RSA) 68-75, Jhonattan Vegas (VEN) 69-74, Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP) 71-72, Kyung-tae Kim (KOR) 73-70, Ian Poulter (GBR) 73-70, Graeme McDowell (NIR) 70-73
144 - Hiroyuki Fujita (JPN) 71-73, Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 71-73, Edoardo Molinari (ITA) 71-73, Lee Westwood (GBR) 70-74, Robert Allenby (AUS) 72-72, Thomas Bjorn (DEN) 71-73, Tiger Woods 70-74, Phil Mickelson 73-71
145 - Yong-eun Yang (KOR) 73-72, Ross Fisher (GBR) 69-76, Retief Goosen (RSA) 69-76, Peter Hanson (SWE) 73-73
146 - S.S.P. Chowrasia (IND) 74-72
147 - Marcus Fraser (AUS) 69-78, Jason Day (AUS) 71-76, Yuta Ikeda (JPN) 74-73, Alvaro Quiros (ESP) 70-77
148 - Justin Rose (GBR) 77-71, Rory Sabbatini (RSA) 74-74, Peter Senior (AUS) 75-73
149 - Rhys Davies (GBR) 73-76, Geoff Ogilvy (AUS) 76-73
