Woods gets taste of lead

Tiger Woods was among the players who had a taste of the lead on a day of high scores in the USPGA Championship at windy Kiawah Island.

Seeking a record-equalling fifth victory in the event and 15th major - it is now over four years since he added to his haul - Woods went to the turn in a one under par 35.

He led on his own following birdies at the second and fourth and single-putted the first five greens, but he could not get up and down at the short eighth and slipped back to four under.

As that happened overnight pacesetter Carl Pettersson hit back from bogeys on the 10th and 12th with a seven-foot birdie at the long 16th, his seventh hole of the day.

The Swede was five under as a result, one ahead of Woods and Fiji's Vijay Singh, at 49 trying to become the oldest major winner in history.

Singh was the only one of 78 players in the morning to break 70, his 69 lifting him no fewer than 28 places through the field.

Just two more - Phil Mickelson and Northern Ireland's Michael Hoey - broke the par of 72, Mickelson improving to level par with a 71 and Hoey's 70 taking him from six over to four over.

Compatriots Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell wished they could have matched Hoey's effort.

McDowell, four under overnight, fell back alongside Mickelson with a 76, while McIlroy slipped from joint second into a tie for eight on two under following bogeys at the fifth, seventh and 10th.

World number one Luke Donald's wait for a first major, meanwhile, looks certain to go on to next April after he could only match McDowell's round and fell back to six over.

He had to wait to see if he had survived the halfway cut, but even if he scraped through it was going to take something remarkable just to get back into the hunt.