Padraig Harrington shot a 65 to lie three shots off Brian Davis’ lead after the third round of the Travelers Championship in Connecticut.
37-year-old was Davis level with American Roland Thatcher as they both emerged from the chasing pack to pull two strokes clear at the summit on 12 under.
John Rollins, James Driscoll and Stuart Appleby shared third on 10 under with Harrington on nine under alongside five others, including overnight leader Fredrik Jacobsen. Harrington made seven birdies in eight holes from the sixth in a vintage performance.
Davis made his move on the front nine with three pairs of birdies. His one dropped shot, at the 13th, was cancelled out two holes later as he came home in a level-par 35.
The Londoner is still searching for his maiden PGA Tour win and is best known for calling a penalty on himself during a play-off with Jim Furyk at the 2010 Verizon Heritage, denying himself the chance of victory but earning widespread praise.
Thatcher would have finished in the outright lead but for a bogey at the 17th, having made six birdies in a previously unblemished round.
Rollins matched Thatcher's five-under-par total despite a double bogey at the short eighth, also carding eight birdies and a bogey.
Driscoll eagled the par-four 15th in a 66 while Appleby's solid 67 featured only one dropped shot, at the fifth.
Jacobsen, who for the second year running at this tournament had finished his second round leading on nine under, took six at the par-four 10th and also made three bogeys, negating the effect of his five birdies.
His total was matched by Hoffman, who was halted in full flow by yesterday's early finish which came when he was on a run of five successive birdies. He slipped back to three under for his second round and a third successive 67 left him three shots off the lead.
The group at eight under featured Masters champion and 2010 winner Bubba Watson, Camilo Villegas, Robert Karlsson and Chez Reavie, while Watson's fellow reigning major winners Webb Simpson (US Open) and Keegan Bradley (US PGA) were seven under and four under respectively.
A secondary cut had to be applied after 88 players made the halfway cut, which came early after the weather stoppage left 77 players to complete their second round.
First-round leader David Mathis was a surprise figure heading home a day early. The American started the tournament on Thursday with birdies either side of a hole in one, and was six under after six holes, but followed his opening 64 with rounds of 73 and 74 to end his participation.