American veteran Jim Furyk has burst clear of the pack and into a commanding lead after the second round of the World Golf Championships’ Bridgestone Invitational in Ohio.

Australia’s Jason Day scrambled to shoot his second consecutive 69 to be two-under overall in a tie for eighth, six strokes behind Furyk, whose 66 at Firestone Country Club’s South Course on Friday took him to eight-under.

Furyk, who has an impressive nine top-10 finishes at the event without ever winning it, holds a handy four-shot advantage over Irishman Shane Lowry (66) and American long hitters Bubba Watson (66) and Dustin Johnson (67).

“Obviously I’m happy with back-to-back 66s. Felt like I was moving in the right direction today. Hopefully, I’ll continue to gain more confidence in my swing,” said Furyk, the 45-year-old 17-time US PGA tour winner

“I would say that I’m disappointed I’ve never won here. It’s another year and opportunity, and we’re only halfway.

“I’m going to try to do the same things this weekend and not really look at the leaderboard that much and go try to shoot under par every day.”

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell (71) and overnight leading Kiwi Danny Lee (72) both went backwards on Friday but hold a portion of fifth place at three-under with Swede Henrik Stenson (69) and American Patrick Reed (66).

Day – who is one of nine players at two-under that includes world No.2 Jordan Spieth – hit just two fairways in his round, but managed to stay under par with two birdies and just one bogey.

Former World No.1 Adam Scott sits back in 26th at one-over after a fighting 69 of his own left him only an outside chance of victory.

Marc Leishman (70) and Steven Bowditch (69) need to go low on Saturday after finishing at two-over.

Andrew Dodt (+8) and Nick Cullen (+11) are well back in the 77-man elite no-cut tournament.