After posting an early 65, Vijay Singh is now half way to defending his title at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Singh played a nearly prefect round carding just one bogey, an eagle, and four birdies. "I hit the ball really good off the tee. I gave myself a lot of birdie opportunities. And also helped by chipping in twice, as well, so those are always good to have," said Singh. Benign conditions in the morning led to better scoring which deteriorated towards the afternoon as a late storm rolled in. The rain steadily increased and players are anticipating the course playing more difficult in the final two rounds.

Singh will not only have to overcome increasingly difficult conditions to win. He is also coming off a severe bought with food poisoning he acquired in India at the Johnny Walker Classic. Singh lost 20 pounds and is just now feeling better, "I got home Monday morning and first time I hit balls was, you know, literally I thought I was going to pull out of this tournament, but on Friday I just started to [practice]."

Phil Mickelson looked to be struggling with his putter early on. Failing to convert key birdie and par putts, he appeared in danger of missing the cut. However, four straight birdies ensured that Mickelson would be playing the weekend although he emphasized the need to consistently make putts in his post round comments: "I have to get the ball in the hole somehow tomorrow. To shoot a 6- or 7-under par round, which is what I need to get back in it, I have to start making putts, because you're not going to knock it three feet out here every hole."

Tiger Woods managed to grind out a round of 68 despite issues with his full swing. Woods struggled to hit fairways but found a way to hit greens and score. But Woods was unable to get a consistent feel for the difficult Bay Hill greens and could not convert some of his birdie opportunities. When asked what his game plan would be to get back into contention Woods replied, "Just try to hit the ball a little better and give myself some putting chances and hopefully I can give myself putts where I can go ahead and take a run at them and give them a roll and hopefully go in."

Round of the day belonged to Trevor Immelman whose impressive 64 got him back into contention despite his first round score of 73. With all the dangers of Bay Hill, the players know that no lead is safe, "A lot can happen on this golf course. A lot of water, a lot of lakes, a lot of catastrophes," said Jim Furyk.