Matthieu Pavon and Matt Fitzpatrick surged into contention as Jhonattan Vegas retained his two-stroke lead at the halfway stage of the 2025 US PGA Championship.
Vegas, the first Venezuelan player ever to lead a Major Championship, followed up his first-round 64 with a solid 70 to stay at the summit.
A closing double-bogey dropped him back to eight under par and gave hope to the chasing pack, though, and Pavon took advantage with a 65 to reach six under.
He was joined on that mark by Englishman Fitzpatrick, who shot a second successive 68, and South Korea's Si Woo Kim - whose 64 included a 252-yard hole in one, the longest ever recorded in a Major.
Vegas said: "Every chance you get to lead a major and play with the lead is never easy. So I feel proud of a solid round today.
"Even though it's never easy to give two shots away right at the end, a lot of golf left so got to keep remembering the good stuff."
Pavon matched the best ever Major Championship round by a French player, emulating the six-under-par second round of compatriot Victor Dubuisson at the 2014 Open Championship and Mike Lorenzo-Vera's 65 in the 2018 US PGA Championship on a par-70 layout at Bellerive.
He was out in 31, with a 34-foot putt at the second for the first of his four birdies. Further gains at the 12th and 14th completed a superb bogey-free card.
"Got a nice momentum with the putter early on, a few birdies on the front nine and helped me to be more confident on the back nine," he said. "Overall it was a super satisfying day."
Fitzpatrick, the 2022 U.S. Open Champion, was one under for his front nine and then birdied the tenth and 12th holes to finish three under for his round and reach six under at the halfway stage of the tournament.
"Obviously being in this position before is a huge advantage," he said. "I think the biggest thing for me that I'll take on is I obviously want to win another major, of course I do, but I've already won one so I feel like there's less pressure when you've already won one.
"Saturday is always, I feel like, the make or break of how close you are to the lead. I would say Saturday back nine is where ideally you'd like to play your best holes - your best golf of the tournament for the last 27 (holes), in my opinion."
Kim remarkably repeated his feat from last year's Open Championship, where his 238-yard ace at Royal Troon's 17th hole was the longest in that event's recorded history.
He exceeded that by 14 yards with his five-wood tee-shot at the sixth - his 15th hole - and followed that eagle with a sixth birdie of the day in a round featuring just a solitary bogey.
World Number One Scottie Scheffler shot 68 to reach five under par, where he was joined by fellow American Max Homa - who matched Kim's 64, also with six birdies and an eagle.
New Zealand's Ryan Fox, South Africans Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Garrick Higgo and Scotland's Robert MacIntyre were the DP World Tour members in a group of ten players at four under.
European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald made the cut at one under par, one shot behind United States counterpart Keegan Bradley.
The cut fell at one over, with World Number Two and recent Masters champion Rory McIlroy making it right on the line.
The Northern Irishman was four under for the first ten holes of his round before back-to-back bogeys ensured a nervy finish. He impressively saved par after his tee shot at the 13th rolled off the green and birdied the 14th and 15th to give himself some breathing room, which proved necessary after bogeys at the last two holes.