Els repels Pilkington challenge as Faldo falls away

Ernie Els refused to be upstaged in the second round of the Heineken Classic here yesterday. First, Greg Norman, nine days away from his 47th birthday, set the clubhouse target by adding a 67 to his opening 69. John Daly then made an eagle on his last hole to survive the cut, then the little-known New Zealander, Richard Lee, broke the course record with a 62, before Mark Pilkington, the young Welshman, joined Norman on eight under par.

However, they were all well aware that Els, the overnight leader after a 64, was still out on the course. And the world No 5 duly came in with a 69 to stretch his lead to three shots.

Els, improving to the 11-under-par mark of 133, made four birdies in five holes around the turn and, although he then took three putts on the comparatively easy 17th, holed from 18 feet on the last.

Pilkington achieved what Nick Faldo could not by staying in contention, finishing the day joint second with Norman and two other Australians, Peter O'Malley and Stephen Leaney. Faldo, joint third overnight, managed only a 73 and admitted he struggled with a swing that has had a fault "for 27 years". As a result, he fell back to four under par.

Among the players who came past Faldo was Lee with a round that surprised even himself. It was the 28-year-old's best finish in eight years as a professional and he said: "I was shaking on the last three or four holes." Lee was 10 under par with two holes to play and at that point had a chance to become the first golfer in European Tour history to break 60.

A tee shot to nine feet on the short eighth – his 17th – kept that hope alive, but he missed the putt and then "only" made a par on the long ninth.

The Auckland golfer goes into the third round in sixth position on seven under par, one stroke ahead of Britain's David Howell.

Phil Golding, a Briton who has had to make 15 trips to the tour qualifying school, moved up to five under par with a 67, but Barry Lane matched Faldo's 73 and also slipped back to four under.

Déjà vu for Justin Rose, who missed the cut and was outplayed by the Australian youngsters, Adam Scott and Aaron Baddeley. They finished five and three under, respectively.