Li Haotong will carry the memory of his closing 63 at The Open Championship in 2017 with him as he heads into the weekend at the 2020 US PGA Championship with a two shot lead.
The 25-year-old followed up Thursday's opening 67 at TPC Harding Park with a flawless 65 early on day two to set the clubhouse target at eight under par, and none of the later starters were able to hunt him down.
He was briefly caught at the summit in the afternoon when overnight co-leader Jason Day made a fast start but the 2015 champion fell back into the large group in a tie for second place after carding a double bogey on the 12th.
Also on six under were Englishmen Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose, double defending champion Brooks Koepka, Daniel Berger and Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera, who had looked set to grab outright second place late in the day before dropping a shot at the ninth - his last.
Li only found four fairways on Friday but produced some stunning approach play and putted well to make five birdies and no bogeys.
He started the day two shots behind first round pacesetters Day and Brendon Todd but it took him just two holes of his second round to haul himself level.
After sending his approach to three feet at the first, he tapped in for an opening birdie before holing from 22 feet on the second green to grab a share of the lead.
He found himself alone at the top of the leaderboard after draining another lengthy birdie effort at the fifth before extending his advantage to two shots with his fourth gain of the day on the tricky ninth hole.
Li, who had struggled since returning to action following the coronavirus hiatus before arriving in San Francisco, then picked up another shot at the par five tenth before parring his way home.
.@haotong_li hit just 4 fairways on his way to a second-round 65.#PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/UWrWwYbcWW
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) August 7, 2020
Victory this week would see Li become the first man from China to win a Major Championship but he is refusing to think that far ahead.
He does have experience of going low at a Major on a Sunday, though, and he will draw on that sensational final round at Royal Birkdale from three years ago when he tees it up this weekend.
"It was a long time ago," said Li. "It's definitely good to have that experience in my mind, and definitely it will help to play the next two rounds.
"I've still got two rounds left. Long way to go. Just want to play my best. If it happens, it happens."
After carding a birdie and a bogey on the front nine, afternoon starter Rose took advantage of the par five tenth but dropped another shot on the 12th.
The Olympic champion moved to five under with a delightful putt from 25 feet on the 14th before making it back to back birdies at the 15th.
Rose then showed his mettle at the 18th, saving par from 14 feet to head into the weekend two shots behind Li.
Having mixed two birdies with two bogeys on his front nine to sit four shots behind Li at the turn, Lorenzo-Vera, who was one of the day's latest starters, suddenly made a charge with three birdies in a row from the second - his 11th hole - to become Li's nearest challenger.
But he was unable to knock him off his perch and instead finished his round with a bogey on the difficult ninth to drop back to six under.
He said: "I was hitting the ball everywhere from ten to 18. I was really not hitting the ball where it should be, and I decided to just do something on the first tee at the turn.
"And then I felt a really good feeling in my swing and I was like, 'OK I'm going to stick to that until the end' and, well, it worked."
Earlier in the day, World Number 13 Fleetwood covered his front nine in 31 with four birdies before picking up another shot on the first - his tenth - courtesy of a magnificent approach to eight feet.
He dropped his first shot of the day on the second but bounced back with a birdie at the fourth before getting to six under with another gain on the seventh.
Fleetwood, who finished runner-up to Shane Lowry in last year’s Open Championship, could have closed the gap on Li to a single shot at the ninth - his last - but his 23 foot birdie putt missed the cup.
