Luke Donald equalled the lowest round of his Masters Tournament career to keep his hopes of a first Major title alive.
After recovering from three over par after ten holes to open with a level par 72 Donald added a 68 to stand four under at the halfway mark at Augusta National.
That was his best effort since his debut six years ago, and left him only six adrift of his 21 year old Ryder Cup teammate Rory McIlroy.
"I'm in a good position," said Donald, winner of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play title in Arizona in February and with a chance to take the World Number One spot off German Martin Kaymer this weekend.
"I think I've played enough here to know you can get on some runs and fortunately that happened.
"I didn't make a great start, but I certainly didn't panic."
As for McIlroy being in the lead Donald added: "It's early days. The weekend's only going to get tougher."
Donald is donating $5,000 dollars for every birdie he makes this week to the Japanese Relief effort - but after a round which saw $35,000 raised, the 33 year old insists he is hoping for an expensive weekend.
"It is something I decided to do having close ties with Mizuno, a Japanese company, I felt that it would be a good thing to do and I am happy to help out," added Donald.
"I'm a little bit out of pocket now but it is for a good cause but the Japanese are a resilient nation so I think they will recover quickly. But it is nice to be able to help out. I made an eagle yesterday so that will count as two birdies and I'm hoping for lots more over the weekend."
