Justin Rose was delighted to stay bogey-free as he fired a second-round 67 to put himself right in the mix to successfully defend his title at the WGC-HSBC Champions.
The Englishman had to come from eight shots behind after 54 holes 12 months ago to win at Sheshan International Golf Club but after rounds of 69-67 he was just three behind Tony Finau heading into the weekend this time around.
After two days playing with reigning Race to Dubai champion Tommy Fleetwood and World Number One Brooks Koepka, he will tee it up with Finau and Masters Tournament champion Patrick Reed on Saturday, and he is enjoying being in elite company.
"Those rounds don't often come, especially in breezy conditions," he said. "I kept it mentally sharp and I felt like towards the end of the round I was trying to whip myself and keep driving forward and making good decisions and good swings."
He added: "I played with Tommy the first two days. He's playing beautiful golf, don't see that sort of stopping any time soon.
"Patrick - 64 yesterday was an unbelievable round - and Tony, I love playing with him. He's such a great dude and such an awesome talent. I look forward to being out there."
Fleetwood is currently second in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex as he looks to chase down Francesco Molinari and defend his crown, and a second consecutive round of 68 put him in a good position for a second win of the season.
The Englishman turned in 35 but three birdies on the back nine saw him move up the leaderboard.
"It was good again, especially the back nine," he said. "I felt like I swung it really well for a good period of time there. That's the most comfortable I've felt on the course this week and it really wasn't easy today.
"It's great to be up there. Another day tomorrow, just go out, whatever the targets are that we set or whatever the swing thoughts are we'll just go and concentrate on them.
"All you can do is try and do your best and hit shots. If I can play like I did today I'll be very happy with whatever comes after that, whatever the score it is.
Reed is also still in the hunt to win the Race to Dubai and he followed up his opening 64 with a battling 72 to sit three behind the leader alongside Rose and Fleetwood.
"Really it was a grind today," he said. "It was one of those days that you easily could have shot 76 or 77 with playing out of the rough all day and hitting three balls in the water.
"Being able to salvage even par and only being three back starting the weekend, I'm happy with where I'm at. All I need to do is tighten it up a little bit and we should be right there and ready to go.
"I'm a little bit behind Francesco and I'm hoping to close that gap and have a chance to hopefully win the Race to Dubai."
