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Rory McIlroy signed for a 74 in the second round at the Players Championship on Friday with four birdies on the back nine, having made the turn in 42 strokes at TPC Sawgrass to sneak in on the cut line.
McIlroy remains 2 shots behind Martin Kaymer who continued his streak with a second round 69 to lead by one from Jordan Spieth.
The Masters runner up reached 36 holes without a single bogey.
Spieth only turned professional in December 2012 and was a 19-year-old special temporary member on the PGA Tour when he won the John DeereClassic last July, the youngest winner on Tour since 1931. But he held a two-shot lead after seven holes of the final round on his debut at Augusta before finishing joint second behind Bubba Watson.
Kaymer, who won the US PGA Championship in August 2010 and became world number one the following February for eight weeks, said: "I was very happy the way I played golf the last four or five weeks, so the next step is just putting yourself in contention, hopefully win.
"If not, it's okay, but as long as you put yourself in contention for the next few weeks, especially now we're coming up to the US Open and British Open."
Lee Westwood, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia were all six shots off the lead after adding rounds of 71 to their opening 67s, with England's Brian Davis a shot behind after a 67.
Adam Scott endured a long wait before discovering his latest bid to become world number one remained alive, the Australian rebounding from his opening 77 - which featured double bogeys on the 17th and 18th - to return a 67 with three birdies in his last four holes.
Scott, who could have overtaken the absent defending champion Tiger Woods by simply staying at home, needs at least a top-16 finish and eventually discovered he had made the cut with nothing to spare.
"I don't think I played that much better than yesterday to be honest," said Scott, who revealed he married his long-term girlfriend Marie Kojzar in a small ceremony in the Bahamas last month.
Henrik Stenson, Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar are also able to overhaul Woods depending on their results, with Stenson needing a top-six finish, Watson to finish alone in second and Kuchar requiring a victory. European number one Stenson and two-time Masters champion Watson were three under, with Kuchar two under after a second consecutive 71.
Graeme McDowell added a 71 to his first round 69 to share 19th place.
Darren Clarke though misses the cut as his second round 73 was not enough to recover from an opening round of 76.
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