Erik van Rooyen will go into the weekend just one shot behind the leader after shooting a 66 at the Mexico Open on Friday.
The South African had seven birdies and two bogeys in his five-under effort that saw him end the second round of the PGA Tour event on 12-under 130.
Van Rooyen is tied for second with Brandon Wu, who climbed the leaderboard with a seven-under par 64.
The American shook off an opening bogey to card eight birdies, that included a chip-in birdie at the par-three 9th and three straight birdies to end his round.
Earlier, American Tony Finau shot a 64 to grab the second-round lead on 13-under 129.
The Vidanta course in Puerto Vallarta is a happy hunting ground for Finau, who matched the course record of 63 in his final round last year when he ended tied for second behind Spain’s Jon Rahm.
That result sparked an upturn in form for Finau, who went on to win three events in seven starts with victories in Minnesota, Detroit and the Houston Open.
“This was a place where a lot of things changed for me last season,” Finau said. “I was able to post a second-place finish and just have a nice final round, make some putts that were very important and then it carried me into a very nice finish to last season.”
Starting on the back nine, Finau made five birdies by the turn, including three in a row before heading to the 1st hole.
He strung together three more successive birdies just before a bogey on his penultimate hole, the 8th, ruined his chances of another course record-equalling score.
The bogey was just Finau’s second in 36 holes after his first-round 65 on Thursday.
“I played really nicely over the last couple days, was able to capitalise with the putter on shots that I hit pretty close,” he said. “That was probably the biggest story.”
But the 33-year-old, who has five career PGA Tour wins, knows there is plenty of work ahead.
“This isn’t a time to get ahead of myself,” Finau said. “After 36 holes I’m playing nicely, find myself at the top. With my experience, we’re only halfway, there’s so much golf to be played.
“You always want to say that you have what it takes to win a golf tournament. I think luckily for me, I’ve done that a few times over the last year.”
First-round leader Austin Smotherman, who captured his first professional title at the 2018 Mexico Open when it was part of the PGA Tour Latinoamerica developmental circuit, was among a group of five players sharing fourth on nine-under 133.
Masters champion Rahm, the world No 1, carded a three-under par 68 that left him six shots off the lead on seven-under 135.
Spain’s Rahm rolled in a 42-foot eagle putt at the par-five 6th and followed that with a birdie at the 7th. But he found the water for a double-bogey at the 9th and bogeyed the 10th before birdies at 11, 12 and 14. After a bogey at 16, he closed his round with a birdie at the last.
“For a round that for the most part was good, there were two or three swings that were bad that cost me a little bit too much today,” Rahm said. “A couple of unforced errors.”
© Agence France-Presse
