The 24-year-old rookie from Washington State stumbled through his opening nine holes (the back nine) in level par after dropping three shots in three holes from the 14th, but came home in four-under 32 to take the lead on his own.

He is a shot clear of Brandt Snedeker, who shot a 64 around the North Course. Spencer Levin, who shared the lead after the first round, struggled round the South Course in 76 and is back in a tie for 20th place.

Snedeker’s 64 was the best round of the day and the 31-year-old from Nashville is delighted at the way his season has started after hip surgery in the autumn.

He finished tied eighth last week and continued that good form at a course he has always enjoyed.

He told Sky Sports: “I am excited. I had no idea what it was going to be like coming out here after that kind of surgery.

“To feel as strong as I did after last week – having to walk 27 holes on the last day – and to come here and continue playing well is a huge bonus going into the weekend and hopefully I can keep the good golf going.

“I love this place and I love coming back here.”

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, all times Local, -4 hours for GMT):

0810 Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind), Michael Hoey, Gary Boyd

0820 Rhys Davies, Richard Green (Aus), K J Choi (Kor)

0830 Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa), Peter Whiteford, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa)

0840 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa), Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Marcel Siem (Ger)

0850 Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa), David Horsey

0900 Lorenzo Gagli (Ita), Ross Fisher, Anthony Wall

0915 Alexander Noren (Swe), Soren Hansen (Den), Andrea Pavan (Ita)

0925 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Stephen Gallacher

0935 Bradley Dredge, David Lynn, Thomas Bjorn (Den)

0945 Simon Dyson, Lee Westwood, Joel Sjoholm (Swe)

0955 Romain Wattel (Fra), Luke Donald, Richard S Johnson (Swe)

1005 Markus Brier (Aut), George Coetzee (Rsa), Ben Curtis (USA)

1020 Graeme Storm, Joost Luiten (Ned), Peter Hanson (Swe)

1030 Oliver Fisher, Marcus Fraser (Aus), Jamie Donaldson

1040 Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Mark Foster, Keith Horne (Rsa)

1050 Alejandro Canizares (Spa), David Drysdale, Wen-chong Liang (Chn)

1100 James Kingston (Rsa), Anders Hansen (Den), Francesco Molinari (Ita)

1110 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Johan Edfors (Swe), Graeme McDowell

1125 Richie Ramsay, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa)

1135 Sergio Garcia (Spa), Padraig Harrington, Richard Finch

1145 Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods (USA), Robert Karlsson (Swe)

1155 Robert Rock, Paul Lawrie, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra)

1205 Gareth Maybin, Matteo Manassero (Ita), Thorbjorn Olesen (Den)

The American is playing the West Coast swing but will take in a trip to Qatar instead of playing the Phoenix Open, where he is a former winner.

And while the Ryder Cup star admits that was a tough decision to make, he knows the sport is now on the global stage.

“It was an opportunity I didn’t want to pass up,” Mahan said. “I wanted to see if I even liked it over there, if I wanted to do it again, maybe an Abu Dhabi-Qatar swing.

“There’s a lot of world ranking points right now. They kind of own all the big tournaments, other than the World Golf Championships and the majors.

“It’s a big trip, but nowadays that’s what you have to do. Golf is worldwide. If you want to play against the best players…if I go over and play well, it’s going to mean a lot more to me than playing well here. It’s just a fact.”

He said that how he performs over the next five weeks will be more about his golf than his travel. After Qatar, he has Pebble Beach, Riviera and the Match Play.

“This is part of the game. This is the lifestyle. You’ve got to travel,” Mahan added. “When you fly over there, it’s not an excuse. When you fly back, it’s not an excuse. It’s about playing well.”

The three-time major winner sits just three shots off the pace at the Abu Dhabi Championship after working with Aldred for the first time.

“He’s a busy man, I spoke to him last year and the first time I could get an appointment with him was this week,” the Irishman told Sky Sports after a round of 69.

“It’s been worth the wait. It’s been really interesting, he was exceptionally generous and worked with a few people in my team and I’ve really found it very useful.”

Aldred was the inspiration behind Jonny Wilkinson’s goal-kicking prowess but nobody is able to pin down exactly what he is.

Diligent

“Everyone’s trying to figure out what he does,” admitted Harrington. “He’s a practice coach for me. He’s making me more diligent in my practice. As I said last year I felt I played well all through practice and just never took it to the golf course. And he’s all about taking practice to the course.

“It’s about putting a lot more precision into the practice.”

Harrington was pleased with his second round in Abu Dhabi, particularly the way he putted.

“(I) Showed a lot of good signs today, nearly every putt I took I gave the hole a run and certainly scared it a few times,” he added.

“I’ve been telling you it’s coming for a good while so I’m always optimistic and seeing some great signs there.

“I just have to get used to it now”.