Tiger Woods left with no room for error

Tiger Woods had a little work to do to survive at the British Open today after a disappointing opening round left him well adrift of the pace being set by Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez.

At one over after failing to take advantage of near perfect conditions on the opening day, the world number one started the second round just inside the top 70 and tied group that makes the weekend.

Woods, whose only failure to make the cut at a major came at the 2006 US Open in the aftermath of his father's death, was expected to be given a helping hand from the fickle Scottish weather.

The American was due off at 2:20 pm (1320 GMT), by which time the light rain that was complicating life for the early starters was forecast to have given way to brighter, drier conditions.

"Realistically I should have shot about one or two under but I made a few mistakes," Woods said of his opening round. "Hopefully I can clean it up, hit it a little better and get moving in the right direction."

Jimenez, who took the outright lead yesterday by holing a 60-foot putt on the 18th green, to register an opening 64, was among the early starters and opened up with a solid par before dropping back to five under with a bogey five at the second.

Earlier, the Spaniard had been briefly joined at six under by 2003 champion Ben Curtis, who started with a birdie.

But the wheels were soon spinning off the American's second round with a run of four bogeys in the next five holes sending him back to two under.

Curtis had been in a three-way tie for second place overnight, tied with five-times winner Tom Watson and Japan's Kenichi Kuboya.

Retief Goosen, who started the day two shots further back, moved to four under with a birdie on the first.

Up ahead, two former champions were on their way out of the competition.

Sandy Lyle, who has been embroiled in a war of words with European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie, started the day at five over and had slipped to eight over by the time he had played eight holes.

Nick Faldo was level par for the day through seven but, after an opening 78, the six-times major winner, now insisting on being called Sir Nick following his recent knighthood, needed an unlikely turnaround if he was to survive for the weekend.