Britain's Lee Westwood and Ian Woosnam played themselves into contention after the second round of the South African Open here at Randpark yesterday.

Westwood, the world number six, fired a second-round 68 but was upstaged by Woosnam's bogey-free six-under-par 66.

Woosnam is at eight under, one off the lead set by the Englishman Paul Eales and South Africa's Darren Fichardt. The overnight leader Wallie Coetsee is on the same mark as Woosnam along with another South African, Don Gammon.

Woosnam said of his 66: "Easy, really; I kept knocking it close. I could just about reach the par fives and birdied them all."

He missed the cut at Houghton last week but blamed the rain which aggravated his notoriously bad back. This week the sun has returned and with it his familiar languid swing. As ever with Woosnam, if he putts well he is a threat.

Westwood is seven under par after his first-round 69, a large part of which was played pretty much from memory. "I'm surprised," he said. "Before the tournament started I would have taken a couple under. I was out to make the cut, but my short game seems to be there and my bunker shots were good."

The best of his shots from sand earned him an eagle at the par-five 18th, his ninth hole, and he covered the back nine in 32 strokes. He birdied two of the other three par-fives and his only bogey came at the ninth, his final hole, where he missed the green with his approach and failed to get up and down. Had it not been for that lapse he would have been breathing down the necks of Eales and Fichardt instead of lurking with intent.

The Preston-based Eales, who has spent almost as much time broadcasting for the BBC's Radio 5 Live as he has playing tournaments over the past couple of years, added a three-under-par 69 to his opening 66 to head the field. He last won on tour in the 1994 Extremadura Open.

"I'm still the defending champion there," he said. "I have a baby now, so if I miss my player's card I can go back home, get a club job and spend time with my son Joshua, because that's where my priorities are now."

The saddest story of the day concerned Henk Alberts, who holed his tee shot with a four-iron at the 15th only to discover that the Mercedes-Benz on offer was for a hole-in-one at the 17th. He followed his one with two fives bogey, double bogey - and missed the cut by six shots.

Britain's Janice Moodie repeated her opening day 70 to move up the leaderboard as conditions cooled in the second round of the Subaru Memorial of Naples tournament at Pelican Strand in Florida yesterday.

While the locals shivered in the 60-degree chill, Moodie and fellow-Scot Catriona Matthew both made headway - Moodie is on the four-under 140 total five shots behind leader Meg Mallon and one in front of Matthew, who shot 69.

England's Helen Dobson finished alongside Matthew after a 71 as she continued her recovery from last week's opening event in West Palm Beach when she failed to break 80 in three of the four rounds.

Dobson put the dismal start down to her wedding to Paul Hewlett last month. "I had seven weeks when I never even thought about golf," said the Skegness 28year-old. "But it's good to open with two sub-par rounds."

Laura Davies bogeyed the 18th for a 72 and two-under 142, the same mark as Trish Johnson, who scarred her 74 with two double-bogeys.