PGA Tour: Alex Noren leads the pack at halfway stage of Butterfield Bermuda Championship

The Swede failed to reach the heights of his superlative 61 on Thursday, but still managed a neat five under 66 around Port Royal Golf Club, enough to take him to a course record 15 under for the tournament. Noren is two shots ahead of Ryan Moore, Satoshi Kodaira and Ryan Brehm in the chasing pack.

Still clearly enjoying the Bermuda sun, Noren was off to a fast start with three consecutive birdies but then went on a run of 11 straight pars before his next gain on the 15th. 

"The wedges came up 15 feet instead of 5, and had a bunch of tap-ins yesterday," was Noren's excuse on pgatour.com.

"The greens... it's quite a lot of slope and quite a lot of grain. The first three birdies I just kind of rolled in, and then it was a little trickier.

"It helps when you had a good round the previous day. You're not necessarily struggling, not frustrated, it's just that, 'What am I doing different? Am I trying too hard or start asking caddie for the reads?' He helps me off and on with the reads, but it's probably better that I just feel the putts and trust my instinct. That's what I did yesterday. You've got to just stay with it."

Meanwhile, a hot putter helped Morre remain bogey-free in Bermuda, as he carded a seven under 64 to move into contention. 

"It's time to do it or you don't, right?" quipped Moore.

"Fortunately for me this week, I've been doing it better and feel a little bit better. Built some confidence on my last couple weeks, just different parts of my game starting to work better and that's what you want to see. Hopefully, it stays that way."

Colombian hopeful Camilo Villegas - who finished tied for second at the WWT Championship in Mexico - signed for a round of the day 63 to move into solo fifth on 12 under.

"Two good rounds to get started, same as last week," recollected Villegas.

"Two good rounds to get started and we're only halfway there, but we'll keep playing."

READ MORE: Max Homa shares halfway lead in DP World Tour's Nedbank Golf Challenge