The best rounds of the second day of the Open Championship came from the morning groups, predictably, before all moisture had been baked out of the course and the winds freshened. Most notably, Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson and Tiger Woods fired gutsy rounds of 68, 70 and 71, respectively to move to 2-under for the tournament.

Those players, however, find themselves trailing the ageless, stogey-smoking, bastion of burnt sienna, Miguel Angel Jimenez, who played his way around an increasingly burnt-out Muirfield in 71 strokes. The even-par score kept the 49-year-old at 3-under for the tournament. He leads the aforementioned by a stroke heading into Saturday’s round.

An interesting element of the Most Interesting Golfer in the World’s story this year: it has been a brief one. After winning the Hong Kong Open (and becoming the oldest winner in European Tour history), Jimenez broke his leg in a skiing accident, not returning to competitive golf until the Spanish Open in April.

Woods, for his part, made a 10-foot birdie at the final hole to card a second-round 71. The birdie was his first since No. 5 and capped off a day of clutch par putts, in which he seemed to summon every available ounce of focus for each stroke of the flatstick.

“It was hard,” Woods said succinctly when asked about his round following play. Woods, the No. 1 player in the Official World Golf Rankings, now heads into the weekend of another major with a chance at victory, as he has done countless times since his last major win at the 2008 U.S. Open.

Lee Westwood, who has been working on his putting stroke with former tour professional Ian Baker-Finch, and the rest of his game with Sean Foley, was 6-under through 12, briefly tying for the lead.

However, the Englishman ran into tougher, firmer conditions as his round continued. Reflecting on his play, Westwood said,

“I was playing some great stuff. And it was just getting harder as the holes progressed, tougher to score, tougher to get it close.”

Seeking his first major victory in 61 attempts, Westwood is well-positioned (2-under) heading into the weekend.

Adding to the Spanish flavor at the top of the leaderboard, Rafael Cabrera-Bello didn’t play his best en route to a second-round 74. However, even with two bogies and a double bogey on the back nine, the Spaniard, finds himself at 1-under for the tournament.

Angel Cabrera, who hasn’t made the cut in an Open Championship since 2009, followed his opening-round 69 with a 72 on Friday. Cabrera, who was vanquished by Adam Scott in a playoff at the Masters earlier this year, birdied Nos. 4 and 5 to establish a bit of early momentum, heading out in an opening-nine 34. However, he stalled on the back, finishing 1-over for the day

The overnight leader, Zach Johnson, struggled early, as his opening iron shot into the long grass seemed to set the tone for his round. With four bogies across his opening nine holes, Johnson, who loves links golf, fell well off the lead. After several birdies, he eventually climbed back to the top of the leaderboard, but was undone by a double bogey on No. 15. Johnson shot 75 for the day and sits at 1-under entering the third round.

Feel-good stories Tom Leman and Mark O’Mera plummeted down the Open’s signature yellow leaderboard on the second day of competition.

Jordan Spieth, who won the John Deere Classic just five days ago to get into the field, played well for a second consecutive day. However, a poorly struck approach at No. 16 led to a double bogey, which the 19-year-old followed with two more bogies. Going 4-over across three holes dropped Spieth to 1-over for the tournament and undid nearly two days worth of quality work.

Still, he’s within striking distance entering the weekend, and his run of superlative play continues.

Notables who are free to make other weekend plans include the much-maligned Vijay Singh, Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald and Jim Furyk.

McIlroy, who has been searching for the form which won him the PGA Championship last year, was 12-over par to end the day, after an opening-round 79. Singh fired matching rounds of 77, which have him well outside the cut line. Luke Donald’s opening 80 left him with a hard road to hoe Friday, and his markedly better second-round 72 wasn’t good enough to keep the Englishman around for the weekend.

U.S. Open champion Justin Rose, with a two-round score of 10-over, missed the cut as well, as did Rickie Fowler (12-over).