Matt Kuchar carded a second successive round of 63 to move into a share of the lead at the halfway mark of the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open on Friday.
Kuchar sank nine birdies in his bogey-free effort to join Marc Turnesa at the top of the leaderboard on 18 under par. Zach Johnson, who held the overnight alongside Turnesa, is third a shot back.
Limiting himself to one bogey in 36 holes, the 30-year-old Kuchar has bounced back from a poor run that has seen him fail to make the cut in seven consecutive tournaments as he attempts to add to his lone PGA title at the Honda Classic in 2002.
Turnesa, who finished strongly to catch Johnson at the end of the opening day, carded an eight-under 64.
He suffered a late setback with a double bogey at the 17th but negated the damage with an eagle at the 18th.
Johnson, meanwhile, bogeyed his opening hole but fought back to sign for a seven-under 65 and 17-under overall.
John Mallinger is two shots off the lead shot following a second consecutive 64, while Ken Duke (66) and Pat Perez (63) are tied for fifth at 15-under.
Defending champion George McNeill is in a tie for 21st on 10-under following two rounds of 67.
Kuchar was naturally pleased with his effort.
"It was fun out there," he said.
"I think no bogeys, that's always a nice thing to not have on your card. The game is good.
"Conditions were just about identical. I mean, just perfect weather, very slight hint of a wind. I think the greens this morning were a little easier to putt than yesterday afternoon.
"The last few weeks I've missed a couple cuts but really have been making some adjustments and working with my instructor, Chris O'Connell, and things have been going well. Things are starting to pay off."
Rookie Turnesa looked to have fallen off the pace when he found the water on the 17th but then holed an approach from 159 yards for an eagle on the 18th.
"What can I say really?" he said.
"I hit a bad shot on 17 and made double and then on 18 hit a good shot and got a little lucky as well and it went in the hole."
Johnson, meanwhile, was disappointed with a slow start to his second round.
"My first three holes I gave at least two shots away, probably three or four even, which was frustrating," he said.
"But I got it turned around and hit some good shots the remainder of the front nine and made some birdies on the back that hopefully will give me only momentum going into the weekend."
Collated second round scores & totals
(USA unless stated, par 72):
126 Marc Turnesa 62 64, Matt Kuchar 63 63
127 Zach Johnson 62 65
128 John Mallinger 64 64
129 Pat Perez 66 63, Ken Duke 63 66
130 Chris Stroud 65 65, Ryan Moore 66 64, Chez Reavie 64 66
131 Nick Watney 63 68, Rich Beem 66 65
132 Brad Adamonis 67 65, Dean Wilson 69 63, Chad Campbell 65 67, Michael Allen 63 69, Fred Couples 68 64
133 Brian Davis (Eng) 65 68, Chris DiMarco 69 64, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 67 66, Nicholas Thompson 68 65
134 Charley Hoffman 67 67, Robert Garrigus 65 69, Mark Hensby (Aus) 69 65, Woody Austin 67 67, Charles Howell III 67 67, Kevin Na 64 70, Hunter Mahan 65 69, George McNeill 67 67, Bob Estes 66 68, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 69 65, Scott Sterling 69 65, John Huston 71 63, John Riegger 66 68, Frank Lickliter II 65 69, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 69 65
135 Davis Love III 68 67, Todd Demsey 67 68, Mark Wilson 70 65, Peter Lonard (Aus) 66 69, Charlie Wi (Kor) 69 66, Steve Marino 71 64, Joe Durant 65 70, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 68 67, Brett Quigley 68 67, Martin Laird (Sco) 67 68
136 Richard Johnson (Wal) 69 67, John Merrick 67 69, Kevin Sutherland 69 67, Kenneth Ferrie (Eng) 66 70, Tom Pernice Jnr. 68 68, Parker McLachlin 67 69, James Driscoll 71 65, Chad Collins 66 70, Bill Haas 68 68, Bo Van Pelt 67 69
137 Charles Warren 65 72, Patrick Sheehan 68 69, Tim Herron 72 65, Eric Axley 68 69, David Duval 69 68, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 72 65, Matthew Jones (Aus) 66 71, Jason Day (Aus) 70 67, Kevin Streelman 68 69, Will MacKenzie 65 72, Mike Weir (Can) 69 68
138 Vaughn Taylor 69 69, Jeff Overton 69 69, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 69 69, Y. E Yang (Kor) 67 71, Ben Crane 69 69, Mike Ruiz 67 71, Jason Gore 68 70, Kent Jones 69 69, Tom Scherrer 69 69, Casey Bourque 70 68, Jason Allred 69 69, Omar Uresti 68 70, Steve Flesch 70 68, Joe Ogilvie 66 72, Steve Lowery 68 70, Nick Flanagan (Aus) 64 74, Jeff Maggert 70 68
Missed cut:
139 Paul Claxton 69 70, John Daly 73 66, Brett Rumford (Aus) 72 67, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 69 70, Brian Gay 70 69, Tag Ridings 70 69, Jay Williamson 71 68, Kevin Stadler 70 69
140 John Rollins 69 71, Justin Bolli 72 68, Paul Azinger 69 71
141 Kyle Thompson 68 73, Tim Petrovic 74 67, Jim McGovern 72 69, Jeff Quinney 69 72, Jimmy Walker 71 70, Carlos Franco (Par) 71 70
142 Michael Letzig 73 69, Chris Riley 70 72, Troy Matteson 70 72, Brenden Pappas (Rsa) 71 71, Stephen Ames (Can) 72 70
143 Arron Oberholser 73 70, Scott McCarron 68 75, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 69 74, J J Henry 73 70, Paul Goydos 72 71, Brad Elder 71 72, Shane Bertsch 69 74
144 Jerry Kelly 71 73, Jin Park (Kor) 74 70, Ben Fox 71 73, Cody Freeman 73 71, Todd Hamilton 73 71, Grant Waite (Nzl) 74 70, Cameron Beckman 72 72, Jon Mills (Can) 71 73
145 Billy Mayfair 75 70, Ryan Armour 73 72, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 71 74, Greg Kraft 73 72, Jonathan Byrd 73 72
146 Kirk Triplett 77 69
147 Bob Sowards 72 75
148 Nathan Green (Aus) 71 77
149 Steve Elkington (Aus) 75 74
JOHNSON WINS TEXAS OPEN
STROUD LEADS IN TEXAS
Lions come to terms with ex-Bengal RB Johnson
