Peter Lonard and Stuart Appleby have stormed into contention at the halfway mark of the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron. Lonard had an eventful start, shooting four birdies and two bogeys in his opening eight holes, but he steadied from then on and closed his round with three birdies in the last four holes to card a 66 and leave him at five-under overall in a tie for third place. There may be no more self-deprecating world-class player than Lonard, nor one with as dry a wit. “Yesterday I hit it all over the ballpark,” he said. “I holed a few putts and got to three-under and tried not to kill any spectators on the next nine when I was hacking out of trees. “I managed to miss most people. I think I only hit a couple. But I made a couple of bogeys and got up-and-down a hell of a lot and scraped out a one-under, which left me in a pretty good position for today. Today I played pretty good.” Lonard missed five weeks in May and June due to a back injury. “It was only twisting (that caused pain),” he added. “If you wanted me to pick the rubbish up and take it out, I could do it. It could be my next vocation actually.” Appleby sits a further stroke back after also carding a 66 and was delighted to get back on track after a disappointing start to the tournament. “It was a bit degrading to playing the first nine holes the way I did yesterday,” said Appleby. “Realistically I thought maybe I could get close back to par and that would be good, so to get back and make some good putts in the end to see even par I knew would have me not to far off the lead.” “I thought, well, I&aposve got momentum from that nine to going straight into the second round, being an early tee time and off I went today and played really well, played proper golf.” “I just had to knuckle down, kept my ball position comfortable and just hit it and just pulled that nine together. It&aposs been a really good run of birdies for me. That&aposs good stuff.” Standing atop the leaderboard is Fijian Vijay Singh at seven-under, with American Phil Mickelson a further stroke behind. Singh and Mickelson have never won a World Golf Championships event, but the absence of Tiger Woods offers one of them a golden chance to break the drought. They both posted four-under-par 66, with Singh taking a one-stroke halfway lead over Mickelson in ideal conditions at Firestone Country Club. “Two different days,” said Singh, who posted a seven-under 133 total. “Yesterday I drove the ball and couldn&apost miss a fairway, and today I couldn&apost find one, so that was a big difference. “I felt very comfortable on the tee. I just don&apost know what happened. It just didn&apost go straight today (but) my iron play was the same and I putted decent.” Mickelson, meanwhile, was delighted with the improvement in his short game, after disappointing performances at the recent United States and British Opens, where he tied for 18th and 19th respectively. Although Mickelson has not won a WGC event in 24 attempts, he has triumphed at Firestone, in 1996 in the old World Series of Golf, the forerunner of the current event. Out in the first group of the day, he took advantage of delightful morning conditions to pick up five birdies, before dropping a shot at his 17th hole, the par-four eighth. He almost frittered away another shot at his final hole, sinking a 20-footer to salvage par. “It was a big putt, because I wanted to go into the weekend with a bit of momentum,” he said. “I didn&apost want to bogey the last two but that putt looked good and I felt I could make it.” Joining Lonard in a tie for third place is Sean O&aposHair, Zach Johnson and Lee Westwood although the leaders won&apost be troubled by British Open champion Padraig Harrington, who plunged 11 strokes behind after a dismal 75. Nick O&aposHern made a move up the leaderboard with a solid two-under-par and sits in a tie for 18th alongside fellow Aussie Geoff Ogilvy whose three-under also moved him well up the leaderboard. Rod Pampling is at even-par, while Adam Scott s disastrous six-over par 76 has him at the wrong end of the leaderboard. Third Round of The Bridgestone Invitational (Par 70): -7: Vijay Singh 67 66 -6: Phil Mickelson 68 66 -5: Sean O Hair 68 67, Peter Lonard (Australia) 69 66, Zach Johnson 67 68, Lee Westwood 70 65 -4: Stuart Appleby (Australia) 70 66, Miguel Jimenez 70 66, D J Trahan 69 67, Rory Sabbatini 69 67, Stewart Cink 68 68 -3: Paul McGinley 70 67, Steve Stricker 68 69, Jim Furyk 68 69, Hunter Mahan 71 66, Retief Goosen 66 71, JB Holmes 69 68, Also: -2: Nick O&aposHern (Australia) 70 68, Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 71 67 E: Rod Pampling (Australia) 69 71 +1: Robert Allenby (Australia) 71 70 +2: Brendan Jones (Australia) 69 73, Scott Strange (Australia) 68 74 +5: Brett Rumford (Australia) 75 70, Adam Scott (Australia) 69 76, Richard Green (Australia) 72 73 +8: Aaron Baddeley (Australia) 79 69 +15: Mark Brown (New Zealand) 80 75