GOLF:WORLD NUMBER two Tiger Woods struggled on the greens to drop to tied ninth after the second round of the HSBC Champions tournament yesterday, five shots behind leader Francesco Molinari of Italy. England's Lee Westwood, who ended Woods's reign as world number one earlier this week, carded a two-under-par 70 to remain one off the lead .

In a frustrating round, Woods lipped out five times, twice with short putts, and cancelled out five birdies with a corresponding number of bogeys to finish with a par 72.

“I struggled a little bit today,” said Woods. “The pins were tough. I didn’t hit it very good, so the score could have been worse, but also it could have been a lot better.”

The American lies in a group of nine players at four under par that also includes Pádraig Harrington, Ian Poulter, defending champion Phil Mickelson and Australian Richard Greene, who fired a hole-in-one at the short fourth.

Harrington had struggled to match his opening 70, but picked up three shots in his final three holes, including an eagle at the 18th, to move within five shots of the leader.

Rory McIlroy finds himself a further two shots back in a tie for 25th place after a second 71 saw him finish on two under.

The exertions of last weekend, meanwhile, appear to have taken their toll on Graeme McDowell.

While the Ulsterman did manage to get it around in 71, he remains well down the pecking order on one over and has left himself too much to do going into the weekend.

Westwood produced three birdies during another solid performance, but the 37-year-old missed out on a likely fourth when he ignored caddie Billy Foster’s advice over the choice of club on his second shot out of the rough on the 18th. “Billy said it would be best to lay up and go with a full shot because of where the flag was cut,” Westwood said.

“I obviously knew better as a player and hit a five-wood and left it in just about the worst place I could. But today, as per usual, I should have listened to my caddie.”

Westwood is in a strong position to defend his number one world ranking from Woods, Mickelson and German Martin Kaymer, who could all take over at the top with a victory in Shanghai. Kaymer carded a three-under 69 (three under overall) for tied 18th.

Molinari shot a 70 to put him at nine-under-par 135. His score could have been much better but for bogeys at the par-four ninth and par-three 12th.

Although much of the attention this week is on the four-way battle for the world number one ranking, it doesn’t seem to be bothering Molinari. “I think it’s really exciting for everyone watching that one of the four guys could be number one in the world at the end of the week,” said Molinari.

“But for us, it doesn’t really make a difference. We play together with them, against them, pretty much week in and week out. So I think everyone is really just focusing on improving his ranking rather than seeing who is going to be on top.”

South African Ernie Els posted the lowest round of the day, a seven-under 65 that featured eight birdies and a lone bogey at the tough 217-yard par-three 12th. A runner-up last year, Els was tied for third place with Richie Ramsay (68) and Jaco Van Zyl (66) who scorched the front nine with five birdies and an eagle.