Phil Mickelson failed to build on an impressive start at the Northern Trust Open to leave fellow American Scott McCarron three shots ahead of him after two rounds of the event at Riviera Country Club.
It's been an unimpressive start to the year for Mickelson, who has missed one cut and finished 42nd and 55th in his other two events, but the world's fifth-ranked player looked to be on his way to turning things around after an eight-under-par 63 gave him the lead after the first round.
Mickelson's momentum continued early in the second round when he sank a 28-footer on the first hole for an eagle that moved him to 10-under.
However, Mickelson immediately gave that shot back with a bogey at the par-four second hole. The rest of the round was also uneven as Mickelson had three more bogeys and a birdie to sign for a one-over 72.
At seven-under 135 through 36 holes, Mickelson is three shots behind leader McCarron, who also has struggled this year.
McCarron, who underwent elbow surgery in 2006 and missed the entire following season, shot a three-under 68, moving to 10-under 132 overall.
After missing the cut last week at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and not finishing better than 34th in his previous three events, McCarron finds himself two strokes ahead of three golfers as he seeks his first win since claiming the BellSouth Classic in 2001.
Steve Stricker (66), Tommy Armour III (67) both are two shots off the lead.
Joining Mickelson at seven-under are Englishman Luke Donald (69), Rory Sabbatini (67), Pat Perez (66), KJ Choi (69) and Geoff Ogilvy (67).
"Obviously, I've got to get things turned around," Mickelson said.
"This is the first time I'm in contention heading into the weekend and I'm excited about it."
Collated second round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Northern Trust Open, Riviera CC, Pacific Palisades, California, United States of America
(USA unless stated, par 71):
132 Scott McCarron 64 68
134 Steve Stricker 68 66, Tommy Armour III 67 67
135 Phil Mickelson 63 72, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 68 67, Pat Perez 69 66, KJ Choi (Kor) 66 69, Luke Donald (Eng) 66 69, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 68 67
136 Dustin Johnson 66 70, Kevin Na 67 69, Bill Lunde 69 67, Andres Romero (Arg) 66 70
137 Kirk Triplett 67 70, John Merrick 66 71, Ben Curtis 68 69, Fred Couples 67 70, Bob Estes 72 65, Robert Allenby (Aus) 70 67, Jim Furyk 66 71, Rich Beem 68 69, Marc Turnesa 69 68, Briny Baird 67 70
138 Brian Davis (Eng) 69 69, Woody Austin 68 70, Matt Kuchar 70 68, John Mallinger 70 68, Kenny Perry 70 68, Hunter Mahan 69 69, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 70 68, Dean Wilson 66 72, Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 67, Rocco Mediate 70 68
139 Nick Watney 71 68, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 69, Kevin Sutherland 72 67, David Duval 70 69, Charles Howell III 72 67, Jeff Klauk 67 72, Bo Van Pelt 68 71, Jimmy Walker 69 70, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 71 68, Jason Gore 69 70, Jason Bohn 73 66, Brendon De Jonge 69 70, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 69 70, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 68 71, Mark Calcavecchia 70 69, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 68 71, Ryan Moore 68 71, D.J. Trahan 67 72
140 Jerry Kelly 72 68, Brad Adamonis 70 70, Charley Hoffman 68 72, Chris DiMarco 68 72, Jeff Quinney 69 71, Joe Ogilvie 70 70, Bubba Watson 69 71, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 72 68, J.B. Holmes 73 67, Chad Campbell 72 68, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 73 67, Ben Crane 72 68, Brandt Jobe 68 72, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 67 73, Tim Clark (Rsa) 68 72
141 Michael Letzig 70 71, Bart Bryant 74 67, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 70 71, Charlie Wi (Kor) 70 71, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 71 70, Mike Weir (Can) 70 71, Cameron Beckman 70 71, Scott Verplank 71 70, Stephen Ames (Can) 71 70
Missed the cut:
142 Vaughn Taylor 70 72, Zach Johnson 73 69, Steve Flesch 73 69, Todd Hamilton 67 75, Steve Elkington (Aus) 68 74, Steve Marino 73 69, Steve Pate 71 71, George McNeill 71 71, Bill Haas 69 73, Johnson Wagner 70 72, Troy Matteson 71 71, Brandt Snedeker 67 75
143 Paul Azinger 67 76, John Senden (Aus) 71 72, Billy Mayfair 76 67, Peter Lonard (Aus) 70 73, Chez Reavie 69 74, Michael Allen 69 74, Jeff Maggert 71 72, J J Henry 74 69, Vijay Singh (Fij) 72 71, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 71 72, Nicholas Thompson 71 72
144 Vincent Johnson 70 74, Chris Stroud 71 73, Tom Pernice Jnr. 72 72, Cliff Kresge 72 72, Alex Cejka (Ger) 75 69, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 71 73, Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 73 71, Will MacKenzie 69 75, John Rollins 70 74, Justin Leonard 70 74, Tim Petrovic 75 69, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 70 74, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 72 72
145 Ryan Palmer 74 71, Oliver Wilson (Eng) 69 76, Lucas Glover 73 72, Eric Axley 72 73, Ken Duke 73 72, Steve Lowery 71 74, Jonathan Byrd 70 75
146 Jin Park (Kor) 73 73, Ricky Barnes 73 73, Mark Brooks 73 73, Brian Gay 70 76, Matt Bettencourt 76 70, Brian Bateman 69 77
147 Nathan Green (Aus) 73 74, Kevin Chappell 75 72, James Nitties (Aus) 76 71, Parker McLachlin 75 72, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 71 76, Mark Wilson 72 75
148 Heath Slocum 72 76, Kevin Streelman 75 73
149 David Morland IV (Can) 75 74, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 70 79, David Berganio Jnr. 72 77, Bryce Molder 72 77, Harrison Frazar 73 76
150 Jeff Overton 75 75, Martin Laird (Sco) 72 78
151 Tim Herron 73 78, Jim Gormley 79 72, Corey Pavin 73 78
153 Tom Lehman 76 77
154 Brad Faxon 77 77
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