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.

Starting from the 10th, Mickelson, who lost out to France's Gregory Havret in a play-off in this event 12 months ago, opened with three pars before a bogey on the 13th, the only par five on the back nine and usually a good birdie opportunity.

Scotsman Lawrie is an automatic entry next week following his victory at Carnoustie in 1999 but he is looking for his first European Tour title since 2002. He did his cause a power of good by picking up two birdies this morning to lie six-under alongside Henrik Stenson.

The Swede reached the turn in 35 with nine straight pars. Then three birdies in a row took the Ryder Cup star to seven under par before he dropped his first shot of the day.

World No6 Ernie Els was also on the up. The South African, playing in the group ahead of Mickelson, carded five birdies in 10 holes to improve to three-under.

Els, twice a winner at Loch Lomond and third last year, dropped two shots in his last three holes last night and moaned: "Right now I should not even play tomorrow, that's how I feel."

But he birdied the 10th, 13th, 14th and 15th and, after a bogey at the 18th, also picked up a shot on the second.