Struggling Mickelson's ace keeps him in

Star attraction Phil Mickelson hit a spectacular hole-in-one at Loch Lomond today to ease his worries of missing the halfway cut in the £3million Barclays Scottish Open.

Star attraction Mickelson was in danger of not making it into the weekend until his five-iron tee-shot at the 198-yard fifth pitched 10ft from the flag and rolled into the hole.

That saw the American jump from level par to two-under but there was no special prize for the 38-year-old lefthander-Sweden's Pelle Edberg won a £45,000 BMW for his ace on the 17th hole during yesterday's first round.

Mickelson was five shots behind the lead held by four players - Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee, who was among the later starters, local favourite Paul Lawrie, Thomas Bjorn, of Denmark, and Ireland's Damien McGrane, who fired an eagle on the par-five third to add to two birdies on the back nine.

Mickelson, the world No2 and one of the favourites to win the Open Championship next week, went into today's second round talking of shooting a round in the low 60s to boost his hopes of picking up the £500,000 first prize.

However, after 10 holes, he was still level par and one shot outside the predicted cut mark as most of the field took advantage of the soft course and lack of wind.