KAPALUA (Hawaii) - AUSTRALIAN Geoff Ogilvy took advantage of ideal scoring conditions and the widest fairways on the PGA Tour to retain his one-shot lead in the Mercedes-Benz Championship second round on Friday.

One ahead of the field overnight at the Kapalua Resort, Ogilvy fired a sparkling five-under-par 68 to maintain control in the Tour's opening event of the season.

Although the 2006 US Open champion dropped his only shot of the tournament at the par-four 17th, where he three-putted from long range, he parred the last for an 11-under total of 135.

American D.J. Trahan, who played very little golf over the last three months while spending most of his time hunting, carded a best-of-the-week 66 to vault into second place at 10 under.

South African Ernie Els, champion here in 2003, was a further stroke back in third after occasionally struggling with his putter en route to a topsy-turvy 69.

Ogilvy, who set the pace on Thursday with a bogey-free 67, picked up his first shot of the day at the par-four fourth where he rolled in an 18-footer.

He also birdied the par-five fifth, reaching the green in two and two-putting, before setting up another birdie with a superb second shot to four feet at the sixth.

Further birdies followed at eighth and ninth, where he cleverly used the contours of the elevated green to leave his third shot within five feet of the cup, to put him briefly four ahead of the chasing pack.

However, the 31-year-old picked up only more shot after the turn, chipping to nine feet at the par-five 15th and calmly rolling in the putt.

Shifting breezes
On a glorious day of sunshine and shifting breezes on the island of Maui, he stumbled at the 17th and failed to birdie the par-five last after narrowly missing a six-footer.

Trahan, who booked his place in the winners-only field with victory at last year's Bob Hope Classic, was delighted with a round that included a 36-foot eagle putt at the 15th.

'I'm really, really pleased with the way I played today,' the tall American told reporters. 'I hit the ball really solid.'

'The eagle on 15 was a tremendous gift and at no point did I expect to make that putt. It had 15 feet of break on it. I was just hoping to two-putt and knock that in, so it was awesome.'

Trahan felt he had benefited from his lengthy break from the game to focus on moose and deer hunting.

'I enjoy hunting a lot,' he said. 'I spent several months doing pretty much nothing but that.

'For me, hunting is as much for fun as it is to spend time with friends. And when it was time to get back, maybe two weeks ago, I started picking the clubs back up again.' -- REUTERS