Ian Poulter rises to Phoenix challenge

Poulter, who won the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship last Sunday, bounced back from a disappointing 72 in the opening round by shooting an eight-under-par 63.

That put him on seven under overall, two shots behind first-round leader Camilo Villegas, who fired a tournament record-equalling 62. The Colombian was among the later starters yesterday, as was Matt Every, who was eight under par after round one.

American Pat Perez was the best placed of those out on the course. He was three under through 17 to sit nine under par overall. Two more Americans, Scott Piercy and Bryce Molder, shot 67s to move to within two of Villegas. John Rollins was also on seven under after 17 holes.

World number three Phil Mickelson shot a second-round 68 to move to six under, while Justin Rose was level par through three to sit six under overall.

Villegas had earlier made the most of calm morning conditions to card his lowest ever round on the PGA Tour, with Scotland's Martin Laird among many struggling to keep pace early on as he carded a two-under 69.

But Villegas was flawless as he followed three birdies on the front nine with six more after the turn, including a chip-in birdie on the last to continue his good form after finishing third at last week's WGC-Accenture Match Play.

Villegas put his recent form down to a more relaxed approach. "The way I'm approaching my golf is just, again, have fun," he said. "Just go out there and I've got nothing to lose. You go, you hit a putt, if it goes in, great; if it doesn't, you just give a little smile and go to the next one. It seemed to work last week. I obviously played good today, and we'll continue that good attitude and see what happens."

Rose, still searching for his first PGA Tour victory, was part of a group of five players including Mark Wilson, Ryuji Imada, Rickie Fowler and Perez tied for third three shots off the pace after the opening round and was content with his first day's work, with a decision to add a new driver to his bag paying dividends.

"I flushed it," he said of his driver. "I just kind of made an impulse decision yesterday. I was hitting the other one half decent, but just something didn't feel right. I changed and really drove it well today. I played well."

On the woman's tour, Kim Song-hee and Angela Stanford share the lead on five under par at the Women's HSBC Champions after both returned solid second rounds of 70 and 71 respectively at Tanah Mareh Country Club.

The duo are a stroke ahead of group of five players, with another of the overnight co-leaders Christie Kerr two shots back on three-under following a 73. She was joined by Yani Tseng after the Taiwanese shot a fine 67 that featured six birdies.

World No1 Lorena Ochoa signed for a 79 that included a triple bogey at the last to fall to three-over.

Scotland's Catriona Matthew followed up her opening 73 with a three-over 75.