Mickelson - superb 65 (Getty)

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Lee Westwood kept runaway leader Phil Mickelson in his sights at the USPGA Championship - as Tiger Woods staged another great escape act to avoid his first missed cut in a major in his professional career.

Westwood, trying to become Europe's first winner of a major for six years, had his second successive 68 in the final major of the season at Baltusrol.

It moved him into a share of third place and his day was made even better when told that Australia were in trouble in the Third Test.

"The hour I spend on the practice range will be painful for any Aussies around. It would be nice if they were all there," said Westwood, who has rented a satellite dish at his New Jersey base to try to follow the Old Trafford action in between rounds.

On four under he was alongside 1997 winner Davis Love and South African Rory Sabbatini - only one behind Jerry Kelly, but four behind Mickelson, who had an eagle and seven birdies in an action-packed 65.

Mickelson, revelling it seemed in the fact that Woods was eight adrift after an opening 75, posted a 132 halfway total only one off the championship record.

Woods had no hopes of that when he resumed a massive 13 strokes adrift of his great rival. Survival was the name of the game and he almost certainly needed a score in the sixties for it.

He got it - just. After taking six down the 650-yard 17th in the unluckiest of fashions he knew he had to birdie the 554-yard last and, after taking six there in the first round, he made amends with a two-putt four.

There was all manner of drama in his 69. A large branch by the fourth green came down and hit three people below. One suffered a broken leg.

Once that commotion was over Woods, in the lake, had his third successive bogey and with seven holes to play he stood seven over and the cut mark was four over.

He was in a hole all right, but all Mickelson had had to say on the subject was: "If you are looking for me to shed a tear it's not going to happen."

He suspected that Woods might come up with something to stay alive in the event and he was proved right.

The world number one, who has missed only two cuts in 218 tournaments as a pro, birdied the 11th and 12th, scrambled pars on the next two and birdied the 15th as well.

Woods made an attempt to hit the green on the 17th in two - nobody has all week - but although he easily had the length he pulled the shot a fraction and it kicked off a bank against the back lip of the bunker.

There was no option but to play away from the hole. He got it into thick rough, chipped 12 feet past and the putt lipped out. It was pressure time again, but he responded like the Open and Masters champion he is.

Westwood returned this week from a three-week break after missing the cut in the Open and in that time has been working again with old coach Pete Cowen and seeking help on the mental side.

"I just felt like I wasn't thinking as clearly as I could do," said the 32-year-old from Worksop.

"My last round scoring average has been very poor this year and I didn't feel like I was playing any worse.

"I thought I would give it a try. It's not really a golf psychologist, more a sort of lifestyle psychologist, I suppose.

"He has made me think a little bit clearer. Just to be myself on the golf course more than anything, I think."

Mansfield's Greg Owen, in his first major for two years, reignited his hopes of challenging for the title with a closing 22-foot eagle putt for a 69 and three-under total. He stood joint sixth as the day's play drew to a close.

To remain a European Tour member Owen has to commit to 11 events, but after coming through the US Tour qualifying school last December this is only his fifth counting tournament so far.

"If you are not in the world championships, which I am not at the moment, it's tough to play both tours and if I don't get into the one next week then I'm going to resign."

Owen, 168th in the world at the start of the year, now stands 68th, but he needs to be in the top 50 next Monday to make it into the field for the NEC Invitational in Ohio. And for that he probably needs a top-five finish.

The eagle certainly helped in that regard and it was all the more important because he had just taken six on the 17th, at 650 yards the longest hole in major history.

"I hit my pitch there five yards farther than I can and caught the rough, so I was a bit bemused by that," he said. "But that putt was a lovely way to finish - and it will give me an extra hour in bed.

"I hope I play as well the last two rounds as I have the first two and that a few more putts go in."

Mickelson grabbed birdies at the 11th, 13th, 14th and then, after bogeying the short 16th by finding sand and missing from inside five feet, birdied the 17th and became another to eagle the 18th.

In his case it was courtesy of an 18-foot putt. He still had the more testing front nine to play, however, and the 478-yard first caught him out.

The left-hander found rough on the left and right there and his third shot over a bunker came up short of the green.

A 30-footer on the 503-yard third - a par four, incredibly - made quick amends, but after another birdie at the fifth he bogeyed the next.

His supply of birdies had not run out, however. There was another at the 380-yard eighth.

Alongside Owen on three under was Swede Jesper Parnevik and 47-year-old Bernhard Langer, who had five holes still to play.

Kelly matched Mickelson's 65 - and sank a bunker shot on his final hole (the short ninth) to do it - while among those to miss the cut were Open runner-up Colin Montgomerie, who despite a closing eagle could not recover from his initial 77, Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington.

Collated second-round totals (USA unless stated, par 70):

132 Phil Mickelson 67 65

135 Jerry Kelly 70 65

136 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 67 69, Davis Love 68 68, Lee Westwood (Gbr) 68 68

137 Greg Owen (Gbr) 68 69, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 67 70, Vijay Singh (Fij) 70 67, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 68 69, Shingo Katayama (Jpn) 71 66

138 Yong-eun Yang (Kor) 71 67, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 69 69, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 68 70, Steve Elkington (Aus) 68 70

139 Jason Bohn 71 68, Kenny Perry 69 70, Mark Hensby (Aus) 69 70, Pat Perez 68 71, John Rollins 68 71, Mark Calcavecchia 70 69, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 67 72

140 Bo Van Pelt 70 70, Chris Riley 72 68, Carlos Franco (Par) 70 70, John Daly 71 69, Ben Curtis 67 73, Zach Johnson 70 70, Bernhard Langer (Ger) 68 72

141 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 74 67, KJ Choi (Kor) 71 70, Charles Howell 70 71, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 73 68, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 72 69, Steve Flesch 70 71

142 Steve Webster (Gbr) 72 70, Darrell Kestner 72 70, Sean O'Hair 71 71, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 72 70, Joe Ogilvie 74 68, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 71 71, Chad Campbell 71 71, Arron Oberholser 74 68, Paul McGinley (Irl) 72 70, Mike Small 74 68, Hal Sutton 69 73, Luke Donald (Gbr) 69 73, Tom Pernice 69 73

143 Woody Austin 72 71, Adam Scott (Aus) 74 69, Scott Verplank 71 72, Ryan Palmer 73 70, Todd Hamilton 73 70, Dudley Hart 70 73, Jim Furyk 72 71, Ian Poulter (Gbr) 69 74, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 76 67, Stewart Cink 71 72, David Toms 71 72, Heath Slocum 68 75, Bob Estes 71 72

144 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 72, Fred Funk 69 75, Paul Casey (Gbr) 70 74, Patrick Sheehan 73 71, Tim Clark (Rsa) 71 73, Peter Hanson (Swe) 73 71, Ben Crane 68 76, Steve Schneiter 72 72, Joe Durant 73 71, Ron Philo 71 73, Ted Purdy 69 75, Fred Couples 72 72, Mike Weir (Can) 72 72, Tiger Woods 75 69, Kevin Sutherland 74 70, JL Lewis 72 72, Vaughn Taylor 75 69

The following players failed to make the cut:

145 Hunter Mahan 72 73, Alex Cejka (Ger) 70 75, Tim Petrovic 75 70, Lee Janzen 71 74, Jeff Yurkiewicz 72 73, Loren Roberts 71 74, Stephen Dodd (Gbr) 74 71, Nick Dougherty (Gbr) 73 72, Justin Leonard 69 76, Shaun Micheel 72 73, Paul Azinger 72 73

146 Brett Quigley 74 72, Jay Haas 77 69, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 74 72, Rob Moss 74 72, Chris DiMarco 75 71, Kevin Na 70 76, Chip Johnson 72 74

147 Brett Melton 72 75, Travis Long 76 71, Bart Bryant 75 72, Brad Faxon 73 74, Billy Andrade 76 71, Richard Green (Aus) 79 68, Thomas Levet (Fra) 79 68, Richard Johnson (Swe) 73 74, Bob Tway 71 76, Peter Lonard (Aus) 71 76, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 73 74

148 Brian Davis (Gbr) 74 74, David Howell (Gbr) 78 70, Graeme McDowell (Gbr) 72 76, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 71 77, Billy Mayfair 73 75, Jeff Coston 74 74, Colin Montgomerie (Gbr) 77 71, Tim Fleming 74 74, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 77 71

149 Nick O'Hern (Aus) 76 73, Dave Tentis 77 72, Mark Brooks 78 71

150 Tim Thelen 77 73, Jonathan Kaye 73 77, Mark Mielke 77 73, Thongchai Jaidee (Thai) 76 74, Bob Ford 75 75, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 73 77, Rod Pampling (Aus) 73 77, Darren Clarke (Gbr) 73 77, Robert Allenby (Aus) 76 74, Craig Parry (Aus) 76 74, Lucas Glover 74 76

151 Chris Wiemers 74 77, Alan Morin 76 75, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 74 77, Tim Herron 78 73, David Duval 77 74, Tom Lehman 72 79

152 Brent Geiberger 76 76, Toru Taniguchi (Jpn) 76 76

153 Michael Allen 77 76, Stephen Gallacher (Gbr) 79 74, SK Ho (Kor) 76 77, Scott Spence 79 74, Jeff Sluman 77 76, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 76 77, Chris Starkjohann 78 75

154 Don Berry 76 78, Jeff Maggert 73 81

156 Wayne Grady (Aus) 78 78

157 Mike Reid 78 79, Rich Beem 79 78

158 Kelly Mitchum 78 80, Rich Steinmetz 81 77, Jeff Martin 80 78

159 Craig Thomas 80 79, Tim Weinhart 78 81