SANDY Lyle, the first round co-leader, fired a one-under-par 71

yesterday in the $1.2m Casio World Open tournament in Kaimoncho, Japan,

and slipped to third place.

He was still well placed, however, just two shots behind leader

Tsuneyuki Nakajima, who birdied the last two holes for a 67.

Nakajima bogeyed the fourth and fifth but recovered with three birdies

in a row from the seventh. His other birdies were at the twelfth and

thirteenth before his fine finish.

Yoshinori Mizumaki, the other first-round leader, shot a second 70

over 7014-yard, Ibusuki Golf Club course in southern Japan to drop to

second place. Lyle was joined a stroke further behind by American Mark

Brooks, who carded a second-round 67.

Isao Aoki shot the day's best score, a 66, to move up to fifth place

along with Australian Graham Marsh at 142. Marsh turned in a 67.

A field of 64 players at 152 or better made the cut. Leading scores

(Japanese unless stated):

139 -- T Nakajima 72, 67.

140 -- Y Mizumaki 70, 70.

141 -- M Brooks (USA) 74, 67; S Lyle (Britain) 70, 71.

142 -- I Aoki 76, 66; G Marsh (Australia) 75, 67; H Meshiai 72, 70; Y

Kaneko 71, 71.

Other scores included:

145 -- B Franklin (Canada) 75, 70.

146 -- P Mickelson (USA) 77, 69; B Lane (Britain) 76, 70; C Tze-ming

(Taiwan) 75, 71; R Mackay (Australia) 75, 71; L Nelson (USA) 75, 71.

147 -- S Hoch (USA) 79, 68; T Lehman (USA) 75, 72.

148 -- J Daly (USA) 76, 72.

149 -- F Minoza (Philippines) 77, 72; R Gibson (Canada) 77, 72; R

Rafferty (Britain) 77, 72; M Reid (USA) 76, 73.