McDowell in contention after sizzling 63 at Bay Hill

GRAEME McDowell continued an amazing month for European golfers in Florida with a second round 63 in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill yesterday.

The Northern Irishman has seen compatriot Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Luke Donald win the last three PGA Tour events and from six off the pace after his opening 72 he moved alongside early clubhouse leader Jason Dufner.

The American added a 69 to his opening 66 to stand nine under par at halfway and then had to wait to see what the chasing pack – Tiger Woods and Rose included – could do later in the day.

McDowell has fond memories of the event, finishing second back in 2005, and his round matched his lowest-ever score in the States.

Birdies at the fourth and fifth began his move through the field from joint 27th overnight and he then holed from 27 feet at the short seventh and 32 feet on the next.

A 98-yard pitch to four feet at the tenth took the 2010 US Open champion to five under for the day and two holes later, after driving into a bunker, he hit his third shot to five feet to set up his sixth birdie.

The best was still to come, though. A 215-yard approach to seven feet on the 16th brought an eagle and he rounded off an inward 31 with a ten-foot birdie putt at the last. At that point he and Dufner were three clear of Korean Charlie Wi, who had yet to resume, while Sergio Garcia was only four back after a 67 and both defending champion Martin Laird (68) and Ian Poulter (69) five behind.

Woods and Rose, joint fourth after starting with rounds of 69, both parred their first two holes. Rose had a hat-trick of birdies from the fourth, but Woods went one better than that to move to seven under.

Woods narrowly avoided going out of bounds off the tenth tee, his ball hitting a fence and coming back into play, and after saving par there he sank a nine-foot putt two holes later and moved one behind McDowell and Dufner.

Rose also had four successive birdies on the front nine, but he finished the half with back-to-back bogeys and slipped four back on five under.

McDowell said: “I got off to quite a slow start actually with the putter and then kind of got going a little bit. Shooting 63 on a golf course like this is always a lot of fun and this is always an event that I like to put in my schedule. Mr Palmer is our host and it always has that special feel to it.”