Scotland's Martin Laird surged into the halfway lead at the Arnold Palmer invitational after a superb round of 65.
Starting from the tenth, Laird birdied two of his first three holes and an eagle at 16 took him into contention.
He bogeyed hole one but responded with three birdies from the fourth and a 12 foot birdie putt at the last - just his 26th putt of the round - took him one stroke clear of K J Choi and Spencer Levin.
He said afterwards: "The 16th was kind of a nice break for me. If that putt didn't hit the hole, it probably would have gone about ten feet by.
"I had a couple of putts yesterday that looked really good and didn't go in and today any putt that looked good went in, pretty much, with the exception of eight."
Choi produced the round of the day, also eagling the 16th and adding six birdies in an eight under par 64, having begun his round at level par.
First round leader Levin continued the form which brought him a six under par 66 yesterday as his front nine featured three birdies.
He dropped shots at the 14th and 17th, though, before birdieing the last for a two under total of 70.
Impressive rounds of 67 and 65 respectively left Steve Marino and Charles Howell III in a share of fourth place, two shots behind on six under.
And they were joined by Hunter Mahan, who birdied the 16th and 18th to complete an eventful seven-birdie, four-bogey 69. Mahan's round also included four consecutive birdies to start the back nine.
Vaughan Taylor made it four players on six under after recovering from a double-bogey five at the second to card 68, with six birdies.
Tiger Woods bounced back from his worst opening round at Bay Hill since 1999 to lie in a share of tenth overnight.
Woods has won six times at Bay Hill but his 73 on Thursday was his highest first-day score in the tournament in 12 years.
However, the former World Number One was in far better form on Friday, carding a four under par 68 to improve to three under overall.
"I had a hard time getting the ball to the hole today," Woods said after a round of five birdies and just one bogey.
"I was very surprised how slow these things (the greens) were today. They must have soaked them pretty good last night because balls were holding, they were spinning back a little bit, very different than what we had yesterday.
"We are trying to build towards the first major and that's kind of how my game is. It's building and it's coming."
Another player looking to get back to his best, Spain's Sergio Garcia, was alongside Woods on three under after matching the 14-time Major winner's 68.
Garcia has slumped to 82nd in the world but is slowly showing signs of his best form and told reporters: "It feels good. Obviously I'm playing better.
"I'm able to do a lot of things better than I've been doing lately. It's a work in progress. It's getting there. It feels better but it's still not finished."
