Despite an eight-shot swing from his blistering opening round, Adam Scott remains tied for the lead after the second round of the WGC Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio.
Scott followed up his eight-under-par opening round 62 with an even par 70 to share top spot with American trio Rickie Fowler, Keegan Bradley and Ryan Moore at eight-under par 132.
Compatriot Jason Day also shot an even par round to be one shot back in a tie for fifth spot along with Swede Robert Karlsson and Scotland's Martin Laird.
Tiger Woods' return from injury continues to be relatively uneventful after he shot a one-over 71 to fall to one-under for the tournament and tied for 36th on the leaderboard.
Scott's precision iron play form the first round was missing on Friday, and despite rolling countless long putts close he couldn't buy a birdie.
After opening with seven straight pars it appeared the Queenslander had finally secured one on the 17th hole, his eighth.
But in a cruel twist his excellent approach shot hit the flag and rebounded away to 45feet, leaving him with a very tricky two-putt par instead of an straightforward birdie.
"Today was a little tougher," Scott said.
"I started really solid, but couldn't make anything on my front nine and then I just hung a couple drives out to the right, so I was in the rough and scrambling a little bit coming in.
"The bounce off the stick maybe changed my momentum a little.
"It would have been nice to get the round going, and I think that one would have finished really close, but I did well in the end to just two putt that and not drop a shot.
"It was fairly solid round other than some wayward tee shots. Seventy around this golf course is never really that bad. So hopefully I can hit a few more fairways over the weekend and get amongst it."
Day began his second round one stroke off the lead, and got off to a perfect start with a birdie on the first hole.
He followed it up with a run of eight straight pars before carding his first bogey of the tournament on the 10th.
But a precision seven iron on the par-three 12th to just two-and-a-half feet helped him rejoin the leaders before he fell away with a bogey on his final hole.
Richard Green was the next best Australian after a two-under 68 left him three-under par and tied 21st. Aaron Baddeley and Geoff Ogilvy (two-under) are still in the hunt while it's an uphill climb for Robert Allenby (three-over) and Stuart Appleby (nine-over).
