Brooks Koepka maintained his one-shot lead midway through the second round of the WGC-HSBC Champions.
Conditions were once again good at Sheshan International Golf Club and when the US Open champion made a birdie-birdie start to get to ten under, it looked like he could go seriously low.
The American then made seven pars in a row to turn in 34 and leave the door ajar for the chasing pack, with European Tour Members Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Justin Rose sitting just one shot back alongside World Number One Dustin Johnson.
Matthew Fitzpatrick and Matt Kuchar were then at seven under, a shot clear of a group containing Rafa Cabrera Bello, Paul Dunne, Haydn Porteous, Henrik Stenson and Peter Uihlein.
Thai Aphibarnrat began the day a shot behind Koepka and joined the lead with a birdie on the par five second but parity would not last for long.
Koepka was out in the very last group off the first tee and made a flying start, holing from 18 feet on the opener and then capitalising on the second after finding the green in two.
That handed him a two-shot lead but a fine tee-shot into the par three sixth allowed Aphibarnrat to keep the pressure on.
Rose had taken advantage of the par fives on the front side with birdies on the second and eighth and when he rolled a putt over the ridge and into the cup from a long way out on the ninth, the Englishman turned in 33 to get to eight under.
The 2013 US Open champion then put his appraoch to the 11th to tap-in range and he was just a shot off the lead.
A poor tee-shot on the par three 12th dropped him back to eight under where he was soon joined by Johnson.
The American had birdied the two par fives on the front nine and the tenth and when he put his tee-shot to five feet on the 12th, he was two back.
Another gain was to follow from ten feet on the next and the man who is chasing a hat-trick of World Golf Championships in 2017 had four birdies in six holes.
Rose recovered from his bogey with a beautiful chip to tap-in range at the par five 14th and all of a sudden there were three players within a shot of the lead.
Cabrera Bello played his first eight holes in one over but back-to-back birdies on the ninth and tenth kept him in touch and when he drove the 16th and holed from ten feet for an eagle, he was seven under.
Fitzpatrick had turned in 35 with three birdies and two bogeys and he too made his move on the back nine, picking up shots on the 14th and 15th.
Cabrera Bello then dropped a shot on the 17th to drop into the group at six under that also contained Gavin Green and Tony Finau.
