John Huston, in the midst of a late-season push to keep his PGA Tour card, fired a six-under-par 66 on Friday to take a one-shot lead after two rounds of the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro.
Huston, 44, had a two-round total of 12-under 132, one stroke better than South Korea's KJ Choi, who shot a 69 for 133.
After a dismal start to the season, Huston was in danger of losing his exempt status for 2006, so he made the radical decision to play every tournament he could.
"I was in such a bad position I decided to play every week, to see if I could get some sort of feel back for the game," said Huston, who has won seven times on the tour.
He has played 14 of the past 15 weeks, skipping only the PGA Championship, for which he was not eligible. It's more like the schedule of a wide-eyed rookie, but it has paid off for Huston, whose stock is moving in the right direction.
A fifth and an 11th in two of his past three starts has helped him to 127th on the money list, and a decent weekend here should lock up a spot in the top 125 on the money list, ensuring he keeps his card for next year.
"I didn't have any bogeys today and other than one putt, I made just about every putt I should have," he said. "My short game has been pretty good this week, which has held things together, and I think that's been the key."
Choi stayed in touch with Huston with four birdies and a bogey. Iron play is usually the strength of his game, but the Korean has struggled to find a set of irons to his liking this year, until this week. So far, there are no complaints about his new clubs.
England's Justin Rose fired a 65 and American DJ Trahan a 69 to trail by two.
Rose caught fire with his irons to jump into contention, only one of his eight birdies coming from outside 10 feet, a 55-foot bomb at the 11th.
"I haven't necessarily made enough birdies this year," he said. "I've only put myself in position (to win) once this year, so it's nice to be in some sort of position again."
First round leader Charles Warren, who shot a course record-matching 62 on Thursday, started well by picking up three shots on the front nine and improving to 13-under.
He threatened to build a huge lead, but squandered five shots on the back nine, coming home in 41 thanks to five bogeys.
"I had a little more than the wheels fall off, the whole train fell off the tracks," he said. "I wanted to shoot three-under on the front, three-under on the back. I got half of it right.
"It seems the difference between a 62 and 74 is monumental, but it's really not. It's just a matter of a few things here and there and that was the difference today. I made a couple of bad decisions, a couple of bad plays, my iron play was loose on the back nine and that's going to add up to a bad score."
The cut fell at three-under 141, and the tournament's only two world top-10 players advanced. Spain's Sergio Garcia was six shots adrift, while Australian Adam Scott holed a 23-footer at the final hole to advance with nothing to spare.
SCORES AFTER THE SECOND ROUND (USA unless noted):
132 - John Huston 66-66
133 - KJ Choi (KOR) 64-69
134 - Justin Rose (GBR) 69-65, DJ Trahan 65-69
135 - Tim Clark (RSA) 66-69, Brian Gay 69-66, Shigeki Maruyama (JPN) 70-65, John Rollins 67-68
136 - Jason Bohn 71-65, Daniel Chopra (SWE) 67-69, Tim Herron 70-66, Carl Pettersson (SWE) 69-67, Charles Warren 62-74
137 - Dudley Hart 70-67, Brandt Jobe 72-65, Chris Smith 72-65
138 - Gavin Coles (AUS) 68-70, Sergio Garcia (ESP) 69-69
140 - Steve Allan (AUS) 72-68, Steve Elkington (AUS) 70-70, Phillip Price (GBR) 69-71, Hidemichi Tanaka (JPN) 66-74
141 - Thomas Levet (FRA) 74-67, Peter Lonard (AUS) 71-70, Michael Long (NZL) 70-71, Geoff Ogilvy (AUS) 68-73, Adam Scott (AUS) 73-68, Tjaart Van Der Walt (RSA) 73-68, Charlie Wi (KOR) 70-71
FAILED TO QUALIFY
142 - Alex Cejka (GER) 70-72
143 - Jose Coceres (ARG) 70-73
144 - Ryuji Imada (JPN) 76-68, Trevor Dodds (NAM) 72-72
145 - Robert Allenby (AUS) 70-75
146 - Greg Owen (GBR) 75-71, David Hearn (CAN) 71-75
148 - Brendan Jones (AUS) 71-77
152 - Craig Perks (NZL) 76-76
156 - Scott Hend (AUS) 74-82
Paul Gow (AUS) 80-DQ.