Bermuda's Dwayne Pearman fired a superb two-under-par round of 69 in the second round of the Bermuda Open at Port Royal yesterday to open up a three shot lead over former winner, American Tim Conley, and Canadian Ian Doig who also carded 69.

Pearman finished the day on 142 with Conley and Doig still very much in contention at 145.

American senior Jay Dolan carded a three-over-par 74 to remain tied for third overall with compatriot and another former champion, Patrick Horgan III, who managed an even par 71.

Dolan widened the gap at the top of the senior leaderboard, going five strokes clear of Canadian Dan Halldorson.

Overnight leader Craig Marseilles failed to repeat his opening day form as he struggled to a round of 78 yesterday, slipping into a three-way tie for sixth alongside defending champion Bill Walsh Jr., who shot 76 and American Mike Donald who carded 72.

Bermuda's Derek (Nails) Douglas remains in tenth place on 153 after adding a 77 to go with an opening round score of 76. Danny Johnson is the leading local senior pro one stroke behind Douglas in a five-way tie for 11th place.

But yesterday belonged to Pearman, who showed some fine play after a mid-day rain squall swept across the Southampton course.

The 1988 Open champion bounced back from an indifferent opening round to roll in three birdies while carding just a single bogey - on the par four 15th. He was three under par heading into the 15th.

A stunning birdie on the par four 11th may have been the highlight of the Ocean View pro's impressive round yesterday.

“I hit a nine iron from about 150 yards to the pin but it was all downhill. It was the perfect club,” said Pearman whose shot dropped within two feet of the cup.

“I struck the ball fairly well today and hit 17 greens in regulation. But we still have two days left to play, so I really don't want to jump the gun because anything can still happen out there.”

Canadian Doig was equally pleased with his performance.

“It was fun. I played well yesterday but unfortunately I had a bad break on 16 and made a triple bogey six and then I made six on 17,” said Doig, a two-time Belmont Invitation winner in the mid 1980s.

“So up to that point I was playing very solid yesterday (Thursday) as well, but today from tee to green I was solid all day long. I hit 15 greens in regulation but I made a bogey on eight when I found a bunker and I also had two three-putts - one for bogey on two and another for par on 17. But I strung together five threes in a row on the back nine and shot 32.”

After getting off to a fairly decent start, poor putting and a some costly errors saw defending champ Walsh slip back.

“Hopefully this was my worst round for the week,” he said afterwards.

“But I still haven't blown myself out of the tournament as I'm within striking distance - only four shots off the lead. That's not so bad, it could have been worse.”

At the conclusion of today's third round, the field will be cut to the top 40 and ties.