Luke Donald remained in contention as Bubba Watson stayed on course for his second US PGA Tour title of the season by claiming a one shot halfway lead at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
The 32 year old Watson, who won the Farmers Insurance Open in California back in January, ended day one in a share of top spot with Australian Matt Jones at six under par and made a flying start to his second round on Friday.
Watson teed off at the tenth and claimed an eagle three at the 11th - as he had in the first round - and also birdied the 13th and 14th to move to ten under par, where he stayed after a bogey at the 18th was balanced out by a birdie at the seventh.
Josh Teater shot a six under par 66 to move into second place at nine under, with John Rollins a further shot back after a second-round 69.
Joint first-round leader Jones dropped back into a tie for fourth alongside four other players at seven under, including fellow Australian John Senden and American Dean Wilson, whose eight under par 64 was the best round of the day.
England's Donald, still aiming to claim the World Number One ranking on Sunday after missing out at The Heritage last weekend, was one of the early starters and his one under par round took him to five under overall, putting him in a tie for 12th and five shots behind Watson.
He started his day at 5am and before he went out on the course he watched some of the Royal Wedding back in the UK.
"My wife, on the other hand, got up at 4am to watch a little more," Donald said.
"She's Royal Wedding-crazy. So she watched a bunch of it."
Donald knows he needs to improve his short game over the weekend if he is to challenge at the top of the leaderboard, having taken 30 putts in each of his first two rounds.
"Thirty is a lot for me. So I'll go hit the putting green and try to figure it out," Donald added.
"I think the greens are only going to get firmer. They're already starting to turn a little yellow in colour, so it will be a tough weekend. Hopefully I can find my speed on the greens which wasn't that great the last couple of days and make some putts."
Donald's fellow Englishman Brian Davis is two shots behind at three under.
