Storm did not get much sleep last night, which turned out to be an omen as after a dream start his second round turned out to be a nightmare.

Having entering the second round with a two-shot lead, Storm dropped to one over par and four off the top.

Storm was in the first group off the first today and he spent much of the previous night worrying about missing his tee time.

“I didn’t get much sleep,” Storm said. “I went to sleep at 10pm and woke up about 2am and was on and off after that.

“I was worried about missing my alarm call, which I normally don’t think about, but, when you’re leading a major, it’s slightly different.”

But after his bogey-free five-under-par 65 yesterday things were certainly different when he returned for his second 18 holes.

He started with a par but back-to-back bogeys dropped him into a share of the lead with John Daly, who had yet to tee off.

Storm responded with consecutive birdies at the fourth and fifth to regain his two-shot advantage.

He dropped out of the top spot briefly after a bogey at seven and a double-bogey at the par-three eighth but closed his front nine with a birdie to go out in 37.

Further bogeys followed at 10 and 12 and he carded his last birdie at the par-five 13th, converting from just inside two feet after just missing a long eagle attempt.

Storm had another shot at birdie at the long par-3 14th but his putt from 15 feet slid just in front of the cup to the right.

Still in red numbers and just a shot off the lead, Storm had a rough finish, bogeying 15, 16 and 18.

“I didn’t get the run of the ball that I did yesterday,” Storm said.

“I am still in contention but disappointed. I didn’t play that badly but I was punished when I made a mistake.”

Woods kept his mistakes to a minimum early today, carding a birdie at the first and another at the fourth to get to one under for the championship.

The world number one was not done there. He added a birdie at the fifth and, after a bogey at seven, he closed his front nine with a birdie to go out in 32.

Woods showed he was ready from the start as he split the fairway on his opening hole and converted from five feet for his first birdie.

A three iron down the right side of the fairway at four and an approach to 15 feet led to another birdie and had Tiger on the prowl once again.

Woods birdied the 10th and to move to three under, tied for second with Canadian Stephen Ames for second behind Scott Verplank.

Verplank carded a bogey-free 66 that included four birdies. The Oklahoma resident and local favourite posted the clubhouse lead at four under.

“Obviously I played very well, Verplank said. ”I got in position where I could actually make a couple of putts.“

Open champion Padraig Harrington dropped down after a three-over 73. He started his round with a birdie at 10 but followed it up with consecutive bogeys to drop to level par.

Harrington bogeyed 17 and 18 and, after making his only other bogey at the par-three sixth – he closed his round with a bogey at nine.

“I had a disappointing bogey at the last. I would like to have been one or two better,” Harrington said.

“I’m not too bad, but I need to play better golf on the weekend.”

John Daly, who turned back the clock with a 67 yesterday, got off to a rocky start to be two over through 11.

The 1991 PGA Champion bogeyed his first two holes before settling down with a pair of pars.

He birdied 17 but a bogey at 18 dropped him back to one under. Phil Mickelson reached the safety of the clubhouse at two over after a 69 and, having missed the cut at the US Open and Open Championship, the left-hander assured himself of playing the weekend but he was not satisfied.

“It just feels like I’m leaving four five shots out there,” he said.

“On the back side, I made some putts. I’m not disappointed but I feel like I’m playing a lot better than I’m scoring. That’s what’s been frustrating.”