Unlike Green and Gonzalo, Laird played steadily, and was momentarily the best-placed of the Thursday pace-setters. When he birdied 13 he moved to three-under for the day and a share of second place with Scott on nine-under. But he immediately dropped a stroke at the short par-4 14, where he allowed himself to be tempted.

Another that got away - Martin Laird loses his ball on the 14th.

The hole is a sharp dog-leg that measures only 350 yards, and there is a patch of fairway on the straight route to the hole that invites the players to have a go from the tee. Many of them did so, and Laird was one such. But he sliced his drive into the thick rough to the right of the green, and his ball could not be found. Fortunately the ground there is marshy and counts as a lateral hazard, so he was able to take a drop rather than replay his tee-shot. But his recovery wedge got caught in the tangle of grass, and his ball stayed in the rough. Playing four, he almost holed his chip, but had to settle for a five and a dropped shot.

Another shot went on the 15th, and left him with a score of one-under for the day, a total of seven-under, and a share of fifth place. But Laird will have no complaints about his overall performance to date.

The 14th provided another fascinating little cameo. One of the most attractive threesomes of the opening two days featured Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter of England, and Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy. On paper McIlroy is the junior partner of the three, but he is a young man on his way up in the game, and has no inclination to be intimidated by bigger names.

Westwood and Poulter are considerably bigger in stature than the slight Irishman, but he played first on 14, and had the audacity to go for the green with a 3-wood – even Angel Cabrera hit a driver – and make it. Westwood was well short with his 3-wood, and Poulter did not make it with his driver – one up to the Irish.

Elsewhere, four Major-winners were lost: Scotland's Sandy Lyle, Kiwi Michael Campbell, John Daly of the USA and Sir Nick Faldo from England. But six still remain.

It was lucky thirteen for a clutch of players who got a late break when the cut moved from minus-one to level-par. Foremost among them were title-holder Graeme McDowell and Scotland's Colin Montgomerie. Monty was in all sorts of trouble, but he made four consecutive birdies in his last four holes to give himself something productive to do at the weekend.

Leaders:

131 – Retief Goosen (SA)

133 – Adam Scott (Aus)

134 – Marcus Fraser (Aus); Martin Kaymer (Ger)

135 – Thomas Aiken (SA); Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Sp); Kenneth Ferrie (Eng); Soren Hansen (Den); Soren Kjeldsen (Den); Martin Laird (Sco); Nick Watney (USA)

Six players on 136.

(China.org.cn July 11, 2009)