Matt Jones has stormed to the lead and Jason Day is right on his heels late in the second round at the US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.

Sydney’s Jones is four under on his opening nine holes to rocket up to eight under for the championship, now in the outright lead.

World No.5 Day is three under on his opening 11 holes to move to seven under, just one back.

Playing the back side first, Jones made birdies on 11, 12 and 13 before another on the tough 18th.

Day birdied the second, fifth and sixth, gave one back on the ninth before a tap-in birdie on the 11th.

Swede David Lingmerth earlier shot a two-under-70 in the morning to also sit at seven under and Russell Henley (14 holes) and Justin Rose (14 holes) are also one back.

Jordan Spieth earlier made a move towards his third major championship of the year as the world No.2 shot a five-under 67, to jump to six under.

Having already won the Masters and US Open this season, Spieth is gunning to become just the third player in history to win three of the four majors in one year, behind Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods.

Adam Scott will miss his first major cut since the 2011 US Open after a 75 left him at seven over for the week.

Scott set about trying to make up for his first-round 76 with a birdie on the 10th, his first hole, but was once again tripped up by the par-three 12th.

After making triple bogey there on Thursday, Scott added a double bogey on Friday to send his odds of making the cut further skyward.

An eagle on the 16th, his seventh, gave him the base for a last-nine push, but he has failed to make a run.

Cameron Smith made his charge with a 68 to get to two under for the championship, and is joined by world No.1 Rory McIlroy (71).

John Senden shot 76 to fade to three over where he will also miss the cut.

Marc Leishman defied a back injury to shoot 68 but after a 79 on Thursday is also three over.

Geoff Ogilvy is four over after eight holes of round two while Steven Bowditch finished at five over.

Club professional Brett Jones won’t be playing the weekend as he shot 78 to end at nine over.