Stadler leads Mickelson by a shot

SHANGHAI, China -- World number two Phil Mickelson showed his best form with a superb six-under-par round of 66 to put him a single shot behind leader Kevin Stadler after two rounds of the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai.

Mickelson fired four birdies in his final five holes to finish the day on 10-under-par, and outright second place, to lie behind his fellow-American -- who played consistently to record a three-under-par round of 69.

"I'm not really nervous yet -- but I'm sure if this position holds up over the weekend I'll get a bit jittery," said Stadler, who revealed on Thursday that the relief of securing his PGA Tour card for next season last week handed him the extra confidence heading into this week's event.

Englishman Ross Fisher, who shot a 68, and Scotland's Simon Yates, who matched Mickelson for the day's best round of 66, share third place at eight-under-par for the tournament, three shots behind Stadler.

Three-time Major winner Vijay Singh of Fiji and South African Andrew McLardy are tied for fifth place at seven-under-par.

Among the other big names in contention, reigning US Open champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina and Irishman Padraig Harrington are in a group of players at four-under after both carded even-par rounds.

Englishman Ian Poulter beat the cut by just one stroke after tumbling down the leaderboard with a second-round six-over-par 78, but Scotland's Colin Montgomerie and French Open champion Graeme Storm were not as fortunate.

Montgomerie was always in danger after shooting a second-round 78 to slump to seven-over and his fate was sealed late in the day after a run of late birdies raised the cut to five over-par.

The $5 million tournament is Asia's richest event and has attracted 10 of the world's top 20 ranked players. It is co-sanctioned by the European, Asian, Australasian and South African Tours. E-mail to a friend