Tiger Woods: Can he catch Brandt Snedeker at British Open?

Brandt Snedeker surged to a two-stroke lead at the British Open with a record-tying performance over the first two days.

The 31-year-old American, who had never made the cut in golf's oldest major, turned in another bogey-free round with a 6-under 64 Friday that equaled Nick Faldo for the lowest 36-hole score in Open history.

Faldo posted a 130 total at Muirfield in 1992 on the way to the last of his three British titles. Snedeker matched him with a 10-under showing over the first two days, and can only hope that come Sunday he'll be in the same position Faldo was in two decades ago — holding the claret jug.

When Snedeker walked off the course, he had a four-stroke lead on first-round leader Adam Scott. After 11 holes, Scott had narrowed the lead to two strokes.

Tiger Woods was five strokes back, shooting two under par in his second round, after seven holes Friday. Phil Mickelson finished with a 78 and isn't expected to make the cut with a two-round score of 11 over par.

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Despite another day that seemed custom-made for going low, most players were spraying shots all over the place at a water-logged British Open.

Rory McIlroy knocked his ball onto an adjoining tee box at Royal Lytham & St. Annes and needed a couple of whacks to escape a towering pot bunker. Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and Keegan Bradley also got in plenty of work on their sand shots. And no one took a bigger tumble than the big-hitting Belgian, Nicolas Colsaerts.

Perhaps the most surprising player of the opening round with a 5-under 65, Colsaerts was 6-over par through 12 holes, tumbling off a leaderboard topped by charging Brandt Snedeker, to move ahead of first-round leader Adam Scott.

McIlroy was forced into scramble mode by several wayward shots, most notably his second shot from the right rough at No. 3. He yanked it far left of the green, the ball plopping down on the fourth tee box and giving a bit of a jolt to Toshinori Muto, who was getting ready to hit his drive. McIlroy actually caught a break, his ball barely avoiding the thick rough, but he still took a bogey.

The young Northern Irishman was still even for the day when he teed off at par-3 ninth. He pushed it into a bunker right of the green, then chunked his first attempt to get over a wall of sod that was about as tall as he is. He wound up with a double-bogey and slipped to 1 under for the tournament.

Colsaerts dropped even more. The European Tour regular ran into trouble right away with back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 2 and 3. He totally fell apart at the par-5 seventh, normally one of the easier holes on the course. His third shot missed the green, winding up in the dreaded rough. He flubbed his attempted escape, the ball going barely 10 yards and still in the tall grass.

Barely able to see it, Colsaerts took another big swing and apparently missed. Finally, he chunked it out on his third try, the ball zipping over the green. A pitch and a putt left him with a triple-bogey 8.

Rickie Fowler, a contender last year at Royal St. George's, was erratic this time around. The American had only two pars on the front nine, canceling out four birdies with two bogeys and a triple-bogey 7 at the third, leaving him 2 over for the tournament.

Last year's runner-up appeared set for an early exit from England. Mickelson bogeyed the third, double-bogeyed the sixth and made the turn at 6 over through 27 holes, very much in danger of missing the cut.

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