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Boston - Jason Day and Brandt Snedeker were tied for the halfway lead of the Deutsche Bank Championship after Saturday's second round as Tiger Woods got his PGA Tour playoff bid back on track.
Snedeker went from Friday's patchy rain to breezy morning conditions, in which he posted a seven-under 64.
As the gusty winds picked up later, Australia's Day still managed a solid 67 to join Snedeker in the lead on 12-under 130.
They were one shot in front of FedEx Cup playoff points leader Matt Kuchar (65) and Charley Hoffman (67).
England's Luke Donald, tabbed last week by captain Colin Montgomerie for the European Ryder Cup team, was a further shot back after a 67.
Woods, meanwhile, salvaged his week after a poor first round that left him in danger of missing the cut and the rest of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
He delivered a bogey-free six-under 65 that put him seven shots off the lead and tied for 29th.
Not bad after he started the day tied for 87th.
Woods came into the tournament ranked 65th in the playoff standings. He must be in the top 70 at the end of this week's tournament on Monday - the US Labor Day holiday - to reach the third round. That's next week's BMW Championship in Chicago where Woods is the defending champion.
"I had to shoot a good one if I was going to move on, and I was able to do that today," Woods said. "I just felt better. I just felt more energetic and ready to go."
Defending champion Steve Stricker made it through another round without a bogey and was at 9-under 133, while Phil Mickelson was in the group on eight-under 134 that included Ryder Cup hopeful Stewart Cink, Hunter Mahan, Zach Johnson and Argentina's Andres Romero.
Romero made it into the 100-man field with a 40-foot birdie putt on the final hole last week.
Snedeker didn't need any last hole heroics. A birdie at his opening hole, the tenth, was almost his only miscue and he regained the shot with a birdie at 11.
On the more vulnerable front nine at the TPC Boston, he made four birdies in the span of five holes.
"Two or three birdies is realistic to expect," Snedeker said. "But you can't get down on yourself if you don't make birdies."
Day also had a difficult start. In gusting winds he hit a tee shot that he thought was straight down the middle but in fact found the rough.
He used a nine-iron in an effort to move 10 yards right but went over the green.
Day chipped in for birdie from 60 feet and birdied the next hole. He parred his way around until capping his round with two birdies at the end.
"It was a little tougher out there today," said Day, who shared the overnight lead. "It wasn't as fun as yesterday, I'll tell you that much."
Whatever the challenges of the conditions, Mickelson was happy with his game.
For the 10th time, Mickelson is playing with a chance to overtake Woods atop the world rankings.
After missing the cut last week, he put in some work with swing coach Butch Harmon that he thinks has paid off.
"I got my game dialed in, and so I was pretty excited about this week," Mickelson said.
"But again, you don't know until you get out here, and you've got to shoot the numbers. Yesterday I didn't quite post the number I wanted to, but today I was able to do that."
130 - Jason Day (AUS) 63-67, Brandt Snedeker 66-64
131 - Charley Hoffman 64-67, Matt Kuchar 66-65
132 - Luke Donald (GBR) 65-67
133 - Steve Stricker 65-68, DJ Trahan 64-69
134 - Kris Blanks 66-68, Stewart Cink 68-66, Zach Johnson 63-71, Hunter Mahan 64-70, Steve Marino 65-69, Phil Mickelson 69-65, Andres Romero (ARG) 68-66, John Senden (AUS) 66-68, Michael Sim (AUS) 68-66, Vijay Singh (FIJ) 66-68, Charlie Wi (KOR) 68-66
135 - Stephen Ames (CAN) 67-68, Matt Jones (AUS) 65-70, Martin Laird (GBR) 66-69, Justin Leonard 69-66
Notable others:
136 - Retief Goosen (RSA) 67-69, Geoff Ogilvy (AUS) 64-72, Adam Scott (AUS) 67-69
137 - Angel Cabrera (ARG) 69-68, Brian Davis (GBR) 64-73, Ernie Els (RSA) 70-67, Tiger Woods 72-65, Yang Yong-eun (KOR) 67-70
138 - Paul Casey (GBR) 66-72, Ryuji Imada (JPN) 67-71
139 - Robert Allenby (AUS) 69-70, Marc Leishman (AUS) 71-68, Camilo Villegas (COL) 67-72, Brendon de Jonge (ZIM) 67-72
140 - Greg Chalmers (AUS) 68-72, KJ Choi (KOR) 69-71, Rory McIlroy (NIR) 64-76, Ian Poulter (GBR) 67-73
141 - Stuart Appleby (AUS) 70-71, Aaron Baddeley (AUS) 71-70, Tim Clark (RSA) 69-72, Fredrik Jacobson (SWE) 65-76
Failed to qualify
142 - Padraig Harrington (IRL) 74-68
143 - Steve Elkington (AUS) 70-73, Justin Rose (GBR) 70-73, Rory Sabbatini (RSA) 67-76
148 - Carl Pettersson (SWE) 70-78
