Branden Grace is three shots off the pace at the halfway mark of the Charles Schwab Challenge after a second-round 66 on Friday.
The South African backed his impressive start on Thursday up with another solid round, which included six birdies and two bogeys to finish on eight under par and three shots behind the leader, Harold Varner III.
Grace makes early Colonial charge
World No 1 Rory McIlroy enjoyed an excellent day out on the course by going seven under to climb a total of 35 spots from his first round into T4, two strokes behind Varner III.
American duo Jordan Spieth and Bryson DeChambeau were also pretty consistent in their respective second rounds of five under par and will head into the weekend full of confidence with only a stroke behind top spot.
Unfortunately, four of the six South Africans in action this week missed the cut, which was set at two under par.
Louis Oosthuizen just scraped in following a consecutive round of 69, while Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Dylan Frittelli, Erik van Rooyen and David Frost all bowed out of the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Bezuidenhout had to settle for a rather disappointing second round of 70 to finish on one under par, while both Frittelli and Van Rooyen finished on two over par after their second rounds.
The 60-year-old David Frost followed his opening-round 77 up with 78 on Friday to finish bottom of the pile on 15 over par.
