Tiger Woods made his move, Rory Sabbatini failed to blink and Adam Scott and Aaron Baddeley relinquished their hold on the lead.
In an action packed second round at the US PGA Memorial Tournament Baddeley and Scott both made early surges into the lead only to fall back to be three and four off the pace respectively.
Woods also found his way into the lead, fell back after a sloppy double bogey, but roared again to be just one behind South African leader Rory Sabbatini whose second straight three under 69 moved him to six under par.
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Sabbatini leads from Woods (69), Scott Stallings (73) and Spencer Levin (72) who all sit at five under while Baddeley (72) is in a tie for seventh at three under and Scott (72) is joined by Greg Chalmers in a tie for 12th at two under par.
Woods is gunning for his 73rd US tour win, which would equal tournament host Jack Nicklaus and bring him within nine of Sam Snead's record 82 wins.
On a cold, wet and windy day at Muirfield Village several players held a share of the lead at some stage only to see the conditions get the better of them.
Baddeley fired two early birdies to join the leaders in the afternoon wave but back-to-back bogeys around the turn saw him give it up. Despite this, he remained very positive.
"It was a bit of a battle but I played really nicely on the front nine. I hit a couple of loose ones around the turn but it wasn't an easy day conditions wise," Baddeley said.
"Overall I am pretty pleased because I am in a good position going into the weekend. "It feels great to be in the mix and back near the lead."
Scott had four front nine birdies and another on the back but gave up all of his gained shots with five bogeys in the last eight holes, including three straight to finish.
During his final four bogeys he visited six bunkers and unlike Baddeley, was far from positive.
He went straight from the course to the range to find some form.
"My front nine was smoke and mirrors. I think I was getting away with some soft conditions," Scott said.
"I just need to find some rhythm because I just don't have any out there.
"Even though most of them were going straight it wasn't a surprise at the end that I hit some bad shots, I just don't have a good feeling at the moment.
"I don't think I'm playing very good but I'm at least putting nicely. I'd just like to find a good feeling before the weekend."
Geoff Ogilvy (+1), Rod Pampling (+2), Robert Allenby (+3), Nick O'Hern (+3) and Marc Leishman (+3) made the weekend while John Senden (+5), Bryden Macpherson (+5), Jason Day (+6) and Stuart Appleby (+6) all missed the cut.
