(Pic)- Phil Mickelson of the U.S. plays out of a bunker at the 10th hole during the second round of the Scottish Open golf tournament at Loch Lomond golf course near Glasgow, Scotland July 9, 2010. Reuters/David Moir
LUSS Scotland (Reuters) - A quintuple-bogey nine in Friday's second round threatened to bring an abrupt end to world number two Phil Mickelson's Scottish Open on Friday.
The American looked almost certain to miss the cut at Loch Lomond despite a battling fightback as he ran up a three-over-par 74 to lie three over for the tournament.
That looked at least one shot too many to make the weekend as the left-handed Mickelson trailed in 13 strokes behind early leader Darren Clarke.
Mickelson's woes came on the 18th hole, his ninth of the morning, when he drove into a hazard and repeated the feat with his attempted recovery.
Mickelson picked up two birdies after his nine and holed a 20-footer to save par on his last hole to at least give himself a chance of making the cut.
If he does miss out, he will lose all chance of deposing Tiger Woods as world number one.
"I didn't play that badly, just a couple of poor swings and four penalty strokes," Mickelson told reporters before heading to St Andrews for a pre-British Open practice round. He may now get more than one practice round before Monday.
"I wanted to get four competitive rounds in before the Open but the plus side is that I'll now get an extra couple of rounds (at St Andrews) on Saturday and Sunday."
Clarke defied pouring rain to increase his one-shot overnight lead to four strokes with a four-under 67, taking him to ten-under-par 132.
The 41-year-old Northern Irishman, seeking his 13th tour title following a two-year slump, chipped in for one of his five birdies and holed several long putts. He had said on Thursday that he despaired about his putting so much recently that he contemplated early retirement.
"Conditions were very, very tough and consequently the course played brutally long," Clarke said on Friday.
"I holed a couple of nice putts and seeing them roll in is giving me a lot of confidence. I've changed my posture and they're going in now."
Clarke is also trying to ensure a British Open start and could make St Andrews if he finishes in the top five this week.
Welshman Bradley Dredge and Swede Peter Hedblom both shot 69s to hold early second place.
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Fri Jul 9, 2010 11:21am EDT 
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