Sawt Falasteen - Friendship the fuel as Lowry takes two-shot lead at Arnold Palmer

The 37-year-old Irishman reeled off six birdies and one bogey to head into the weekend at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge on eight under through 36 holes.

Lowry has played the first two rounds this week alongside close friend Rory McIlroy -- a fact that he believes has assisted his strong start to the tournament.

Lowry and Northern Ireland star McIlroy could be seen laughing and chatting throughout the round, and Lowry admitted the close proximity of his Ryder Cup teammate had helped take his mind off the task in hand.

"If I'm playing with somebody I like and get on well with, I'll have conversations in the walk between shots," Lowry said.

"It's a long day out there, so you need to occupy your mind somehow. I felt like we had a good time with doing our job at the same time.

"You're out there with one of the best golfers in the world, with big crowds, great golf course, lovely weather, what's not to like? It's easy to get up for something like that."

Lowry had advanced up the leaderboard after making five birdies in the opening 13 holes before a lone bogey on the 16th -- a hole he had eagled in the first round.

- 'Borderline unplayable' -

But he recovered that dropped shot with a birdie on the last, coolly rolling in a 17ft putt from just off the green.

Lowry might have been forced to share the lead had it not been for a late collapse from Wyndham Clark, the first round leader.

Clark looked poised to head into the weekend at the top of the leaderboard but stumbled with a double-bogey six on the 15th after hitting his tee shot out-of-bounds.

A birdie on 16 clawed back one of those shots, but a further bogey on the 17th meant Clark had to settle for a one-under-par 71, leaving him on six under overall.

"The tough thing out here is you know you're going to hit some bad shots -- maybe a water ball or in my case an out-of-bounds ball," Clark said afterwards.

"But the tough thing is the greens are getting so firm and pretty borderline unplayable. It's just huge that anytime you get in trouble, to minimize the mistakes."

Collin Morikawa and Canada's Corey Conners are three off the lead on five under, while McIlroy, Russell Henley and Jason Day are a further shot back on four under.

McIlroy had another frustrating day, his two-under-par 70 sprinkled with five birdies but offset by three bogeys including a five on the par-four 18th.

Max Greyserman, Justin Thomas and Keegan Bradley are five off the lead on three under, while defending champion Scottie Scheffler has some ground to make up heading into the weekend after struggling to an even-par 72 that left him on one under after 36 holes.

Scheffler's day began well with a birdie on the first, only for the wheels to come off on the par-three second with a double-bogey five.

Two more bogeys on the fourth and fifth holes left him three over for the round at the turn, but he recovered down the stretch to make three birdies on a bogey-free back nine.

O.Farraj--SF-PST