Darren Clarke leads the Scottish Open by three shots at the halfway stage after overcoming treacherous conditions at Loch Lomond here Friday. The Northern Irishman – who has not won on the European Tour for two years – followed up Friday's opening 65 with a brilliant 67 in torrential rain. While he was keeping his head above water, Phil Mickelson was struggling in the conditions and missed the cut by one after finishing with a 74 to end the day at three-over. It means he will now have to wait a week for another chance to end Tiger Woods' reign at the top of the world rankings. But the second round belonged to Clarke, who has just dropped just one shot in 36 holes of golf and is now on course for a win that would also book his place in next week's Open Championship. Clarke played his 18 holes in torrential rain and while others struggled, he seemed in complete control. Edoardo Molinari followed up his opening round of 66 with a 69 to finish the day at seven-under and in second place on his own. Wales' Bradley Dredge and Sweden's Peter Hedblom are both a further shot behind, while the Italian's brother Francesco is at five-under to maintain the possibility that the siblings could slug it out on the final day for the first time. It was a disappointing round for Japanese teenager Ryo Ishikawa. He started the day at four-under but struggled in the worst of the conditions and ended up with a 77 to just make the cut at two-over par. Ernie Els joined Mickelson on three-over and out of the competition. Kerr, Lang share lead Cristie Kerr grabbed a share of the second-round clubhouse lead at the US Women's Open Friday after a birdie binge on her second nine at Oakmont before storms ended play for the day. Kerr shot a level-par 71 to tie fellow-American overnight leader Brittany Lang at one-over-par 143 before play was suspended after a series of thunderstorms hit the Pittsburgh suburb. Sweden's Sophie Gustafson inched ahead of the co-leaders by reaching level par for the championship with a birdie at the first hole, but it was the only one she completed before play was halted. The afternoon half of the field will return to Oakmont Country Club at 7:30 A.M. (1130 GMT) Saturday to complete the second round. One stroke behind the pair was American Christina Kim, who posted her second successive round of one-over-par 72 for 144. Goydos joins elite band American Paul Goydos became the fourth player ever to shoot 59 in a US PGA Tour event when he went 12-under par in Thursday's first round of the John Deere Classic but emerged with just a one-shot lead. After Goydos made a dozen birdies in his bogey-free morning round, defending champion Steve Stricker birdied the last three holes for an afternoon 60 to finish one shot back at the TPC Deere Run course in Silvis, Illinois. Goydos, 46, birdied eight of his last nine holes to close out the inward half in 28, completing the 59 by sinking a seven-foot birdie putt at the 18th. The last player to shoot 59 in a US Tour event was David Duval in the final round of the 1999 Bob Hope Classic. Goydos missed just one fairway and two greens in regulation while taking only 22 putts, sinking a 39-footer at the par-four 11th for his longest birdie. Tied for third place at 7-under-par 64, were fellow American Michael Letzig and Australians Aaron Baddeley, Matt Jones and James Nitties.
