Marc Leishman and Adam Scott are primed for a weekend push at the lucrative US PGA Tour Players Championship.
Leishman sits just four shots back and former world No.1 Scott recovered from a disastrous two-hole stretch on Friday to stay in contention after the second round.
But world No.7 Jason Day spectacularly imploded to go from being in the mix to miss the cut by six shots at TPC Sawgrass.
Leishman backed up his 69 on Thursday with a one-under 71 to move to four-under 140, just four off the pace set by Americans Kevin Na and Jerry Kelly.
Na (69), who was the 54-hole leader in 2012 before fading to seventh and the 48-year-old veteran Kelly (65) lead the tournament at eight-under 136, two clear of countrymen Rickie Fowler (69) and Chris Kirk (68) plus South African Brendan Grace (67) and Canadian David Hearn (71) at six under.
Neither Australian played their best golf but both are now excited about the prospects of making a Saturday move.
For Leishman, not only does he have the chance to win the biggest tournament of his career but just a half decent finish should help the Victorian lock up a spot in June's US Open via the world rankings.
"I have not had my best on other days out here and not shot anywhere near one under so it was a good day," Leishman said.
"We are only half way through and a lot can happen and probably will happen in the next 36 holes, so I have put myself in a good spot and now I need to play a lot of good golf between now and Sunday afternoon to give myself the best chance.
"There are good world ranking points here and it is important to play well because if you don't other guys will pass you."
Playing the back side first, Scott was backing up his even par opening round of 72 in style at three under through 11 holes before he notched up a bogey and double bogey on the third and fourth holes to fall back to the cut line.
Rather than let the implosions derail his chances, the 2004 champion rattled off three straight birdies to shoot 69.
A bad swing at the wrong time and you are going to make double, there is no escaping it and unfortunately two days in a row I have done that on 18 yesterday and on four today.
"It's costly when it is really bunched up on the boards," Scott said.
"The weekend is about limiting the damage. A bogey is acceptable but you have to take the big numbers out and it has really been the story of the year for me so far.
"I have to keep that big number off the card on the weekend and if I do that I think I can catch them."
Day was just two off the lead after the first round but dropped seven shots in his opening seven holes in round two thanks to two bogeys, a double bogey and a triple bogey.
When it was all said and done he shot 81, the second worst round of his career, bettering only an 82 at the Memorial tournament back in 2008 when he was just 20.
Robert Allenby carded a 72 to sit at two under and John Senden shot 70 to be one under.
Former world No.1 Tiger Woods made a clutch birdie putt on his final hole for a 71, leaving him tied with Geoff Ogilvy (72) making the cut on the number at even par.
Steven Bowditch (+3) and Matt Jones (+7) are going home while Aaron Baddeley added his record number of balls in the water on the island green 17th hole to 13, putting two in Friday on the way to finishing at 11 over.
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