Australian Robert Allenby scored a hole-in-one on the way to being outright second by a stroke at the halfway point of the WGC-CA Championship at Doral in Miami.
On what was his second eventful day in a row, Allenby (nine-under) - who only trails Ernie Els (10-under) - recorded his ace with a fairway wood at the 245-yard 13th.
Allenby has so far had three eagles, 12 birdies, seven bogeys and a double-bogey as he tries for his first victory in the United States since 2001.
John Senden is the next-best Aussie on five-under in equal seventh spot while compatriot Alistair Presnell is three shots further back in a tie for 22nd on minus-two.
Els has given himself a great chance to reignite his career after a year in which he failed to win for the first time since his rookie season in 1990.
Hours and hours on the practice range paid dividends for the 40-year-old South African on Friday with a second-round 66.
"I went back to the drawing board basically," said Els. "I was a little bit worried going out this week because I've not really tested it in competition."
"But it's been two good days, especially where I was last week. I just got out of whack and when you make changes you've got to hit a million balls to get used to it."
Allenby's playing partners Ian Poulter and Padraig Harrington, meanwhile, went in totally opposite directions.
Harrington moved into contention on six-under following a four-under 68, but three weeks on from his World Match Play victory Poulter crashed to near last place on six-over with a 78, and then revealed that he had nearly quit the event because of a neck problem.
The pair finished their day's work just before the first of two thunderstorm delays, officials wisely having brought forward tee-times by nearly three-and-a-half hours to get in as much play as possible.
Eighteen of the 68-strong field were still to complete their rounds when the second suspension came mid-afternoon, including Phil Mickelson at four-under with one to go and playing partner Rory McIlroy down on five-over.
Harrington's only 2009 success came in the non-Tour Irish PGA Championship, but he was making no promises about putting that right this weekend.
The Dubliner has dropped to 13th in the world with nothing better than a 16th place finish in four starts so far this season.
With that in mind he said: "I have a tradition, unfortunately for me, that I don't normally win out of the blue."
"It's very rare. I normally warm up by getting into contention a few times."
"I'm happy with my scoring, but I made a few mental errors out there and missed a few putts."
"Obviously, though, I hit enough good shots and I seemed to have a lot of reasonable chances for birdies."
His only dropped shot came after he hooked his drive into the lake on the treacherous 18th, his ninth of the day.
Meanwhile, the second day of the Puerto Rico Open ended without the first round being completed as bad weather hit again in Rio Grande.
Rain continued to affect the tournament, and play was eventually suspended due to darkness with nobody having advanced beyond the 11th hole.
American Skip Kendall is at the top of the leaderboard at five-under-par after nine holes, while Sweden's Richard Johnson is four under after eight holes and Kevin Streelman is also four under after seven holes.
All three players at the top of the leaderboard began their rounds on the back nine.
Play is due to begin early on Saturday morning, but there is further rain forecast in the area.