Els takes the lead at Doral

Ernie Els was in the lead and off the golf course, and he wasn’t sure which made him feel better.

Rushing to finish as dark clouds gathered over the Blue Monster, Els made one last birdie for a 6-under 66 and a one-shot lead over Robert Allenby before heavy rain temporarily halted play Friday in the CA Championship.

Eighteen players had to wait nearly three hours before they could resume the second round. When it finally ended, Els had his first lead after any round on U.S. soil since he won the Honda Classic two years ago.

Els, who lives a block away from Allenby in Palm Beach Country, was far more consistent. He had to scramble for a few pars right about the time the weather shifted, but otherwise was close to flawless.

That was a sharp change from last week at the Honda Classic, when he failed to break par and finished at the bottom of the pack. The Big Easy put in some big work over the weekend and all the way until it was time to tee off in this World Golf Championship. It’s something he has battled his entire career, falling into bad habits as his alignment, posture and stance gets out of sync.

By Wednesday, he started feeling everything fall back into place. Through two rounds, he is getting the most important feedback.

Els turned 40 last fall. Although he doesn’t believe his career is winding down, he feels refreshed and rested from a reduced travel schedule and wants to be sure his game is sharp.

“When you are like that mentally, you want to have a bit of game with that,” he said. “So that’s why I really wanted to get my mechanics right and give myself a really good chance. If I can get those two flowing, I think I might have some good stuff happening.”

He was at his best early in the round, starting with a 7-iron from the rough to 4 feet on the 14th hole. He followed with a 7-iron to about 10 feet, then a wedge that settled 2 feet from the hole on the 16th.