Els finds his feet at Hoylake

Tiger Woods threw down the gauntlet in the Open championship at Hoylake today, then saw one of his biggest rivals pick up the challenge.

A sparkling second-round 65, highlighted by his dramatic holing of a 212-yard four-iron for an eagle two at the 14th, has taken Woods halfway towards the first successful defence of the title since Tom Watson in 1983.

Moreover, he is on course to break the 19-under-par major record he established himself at St Andrews in 2000.

But so is 2002 champion Ernie Els after he matched Woods’ round later in the day and moved onto 11 under, only one behind.

They are all set for a showdown in the sun, while Chris DiMarco is three back in third place after also scoring a course-record 65 just three weeks after the death of his mother.

In the week he celebrates 400 weeks as the world number one, Woods has banished the memory of missing the cut at the US Open a month ago – his first appearance since he lost his father – to be master again of all he surveys.

It left playing partner Nick Faldo suitably impressed and full of praise.

He said: “If he keeps cruising I predict he gets to 20 under.

“He is the best competitor, mentally the toughest and the most trained for what he has to put up with. He plays with the ’Tiger Show’ for 72 holes.”

Faldo, who also described the so-called feud between the two as “a complete mountain out of a molehill as usual”, compared Woods to tennis great Bjorn Borg.

When told of that Woods commented: “I’m an avid tennis fan and Bjorn Borg is one of the greatest ever to play the sport, so I guess any comparison is awfully flattering.”

The pair shared a joke coming off the last green and Faldo, whose son was caddying for him, was happy to explain what it was.

“I said ‘seeing as you are not using your driver can Matthew have it?’ Tiger used it once in two days – at the 16th yesterday – and that was a mistake. He should have used a three-wood.”

It was his television criticism of a Woods swing early last year that added spice to them being paired together for the first two round. Faldo believes he was merely doing his new job as an analyst and clearly intends to go on saying what he thinks.

“There are still a few shots he is uncomfortable with,” he added.

“I can see some technical things, but he gets by because he is so physically strong and mentally determined.”

As a three-time major winner Els has proved himself too, but it has been a long time since he showed today’s form and that was the main reason for his delight afterwards.

Out of action for four months after a sailing accident necessitated knee surgery last summer the South African had become frustrated with how long it has taken him to get back.

“I’m totally over it,” he said.

“I’m not sub-consciously thinking about it any more and I felt comfortable with my swing out there.

“When the opportunities presented themselves I tried to be aggressive. But I’ve obviously got to keep it up playing with the number one player in the world.

“It should be a lot of fun and I’m excited.”

Having finished his opening round with a 20-foot eagle putt to be only one behind Graeme McDowell overnight, Woods three-putted the third and at that point was five adrift of new leader Miguel Angel Jimenez.

But as the Spaniard, four clear of the entire field at that point, dropped back to finish the day seven under, Woods went into overdrive.

He had already grabbed five birdies by the time he came up with his shot of the day on the 456-yard 14th.

“I was trying to land the ball on the front edge and let it chase on,” he said.

“I really hit it flush and held it nicely in the wind. It happened to go in.”

With two par-fives still to come the major record of 63 was still a possibility, but he had to be content with playing them birdie-par.

McDowell had already completed his day’s work by then and had fallen back into the chasing pack on five under by adding only a 73 to his initial 66.

The Northern Irishman closed with a bogey six, just avoiding out of bounds by carving his drive and then having an air shot trying to hack it back onto the fairway.

Woods has never lost a major when leading after either 36 or 54 holes, but Els knows he has beaten him in the past and at last year’s Masters DiMarco took him into a play-off.

Fourth-placed Retief Goosen has won two US Opens with Woods in the field too. Woods is the obvious favourite, but this is not over yet.

Phil Mickelson stood three under three to play late in the day, but his playing partner Darren Clarke cut a sorry sight, slumping from three under to seven over in what he expects to be his last round for the “foreseeable future” because of his wife Heather’s struggles with cancer.