US golfer Xander Schauffele pictured at Portrush in Northern Ireland in July
HENRY NICHOLLSXander Schauffele moved four shots off the lead at the halfway stage of the US PGA Tour's Baycurrent Classic in Japan after carding a sizzling eight-under-par 63 on Friday.
The American, who played in his country's Ryder Cup defeat to Europe two weeks ago, shot eight birdies against no bogeys at Yokohama Country Club to sit tied for second behind sole leader Max Greyserman.
Two-time major winner Schauffele made a blistering start to his second round, carding five birdies on the front nine including four in succession.
He finished his round with two more straight birdies to leave him in contention for his first title of the year heading into the weekend.
"Yesterday felt like you were just trying to survive the round and at some points it felt like there's almost no wind today," said Schauffele, who finished a blustery opening round on even par.
"If you're hitting good shots you were getting rewarded for them, so I was able to take advantage of a lot of that."
Rain is forecast for all of Saturday's play.
"The plan is not to change anything, just kind of keep doing what we're doing," said Schauffele.
Greyserman began the day in a share for the lead and was on song again as he moved to 12-under overall.
The American carded a bogey-free 63, sinking an eagle on the par-five fourth hole to go with his six birdies.
Greyserman, runner-up in Japan last year when the tournament was known as the Zozo Championship, said he liked "everything" about his round.
"I've been doing things well this week from the start and so just need to keep doing what I'm doing," he said.
"Go have some lunch, go practice for a little bit, fine-tune a couple things that I want to do a little better tomorrow and just keep doing what I'm doing."
Schauffele was in a share for second on eight-under with Sweden's Alex Noren and American Alex Smalley.
Last year's champion, Nico Echavarria of Colombia, was one stroke behind along with South Korea's Kim Si-woo and Americans Sahith Theegala and Brian Campbell.
American Collin Morikawa was on three-under, while Japan's Hideki Matsuyama was one shot behind.
amk/pst
Originally published on doc.afp.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.
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