Chris Stroud opened the second round of the Tournament of Champions in Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii, with a birdie Friday and never looked back on his way to a 7-under-par 66 that sent the former Lamar All-American shooting up the leaderboard.

Stroud was in a four-way tie for the lead when he finished off his round with a birdie 4 on the 663-yard, par 5, 18th. Ultimately, he would wind up tied for fourth at 138, as Marc Leishman (136) Brian Harman (136) and Dustin Johnson (137) passed him with late birdies.

After an opening 72 on the par-73 Plantation Course that saw him lead through 12 holes before two bogeys dropped him into a tie for 16th, Stroud’s 66 matched Friday’s low round.  Jordan Spieth and Pat Perez also carded 7-under-par scores.

Stroud, who would make eight birdies on the day, got three of them on three on the final four holes. He rolled in a 10-footer on the par 4 15th, then sank a 6-footer at the 17th. On the 18th, he wedged to 4 feet from 57 yards and rolled his final putt into the middle of the cup.

The Port Neches-Groves great had only one blemish on his card, a bogey on the par 3 11th after three-putting from 30 feet. The putter, however, was Stroud’s biggest asset as he finished first in putts per greens in regulation and second in strokes gained putting.

“It was all about cleaning things up,” said Stroud. “If I put myself out of position, I hit a really nice shot to recover. I was always able to recover and it was mainly about putting.”

Stroud made the turn in 4-under 32, with his birdies from 10 feet at 1, 12 feet at 3, 4 feet at the par 5 fifth and 10 feet on the sixth. On the back, he fired a three-under 34. He birdied 10 from 7 feet, took bogey on 11, then made pars until the sizzling finish.

TV coverage of the third round begins at 2 p.m. Saturday on the Golf Channel.