Beau Hossler Tops Houston Open 2018 Friday Leaderboard; Rickie Fowler in 2nd

Beau Hossler grabbed the lead at 11 under after Friday's second round of the 2018 Houston Open at the Golf Club of Houston in Humble, Texas.

Rickie Fowler, who's looking for his first PGA Tour victory since last February's Honda Classic, is one shot back and part of a four-way tie for second place. Sam Ryder, Abraham Ancer and Nicholas Lindheim are also in that group.

While the leaderboard is mostly filled with lesser-known contenders, three-time major champion Jordan Spieth is lurking two strokes off the pace.

Hossler playing his way into the lead comes as a surprise. His last three starts featured missed cuts at the Genesis Open and Valspar Championship followed by a 66th-place finish in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He didn't break 70 in any of those events.

The 23-year-old University of Texas product backed up a terrific 65 on Thursday with a 68 in Round 2 to grab the solo lead. A victory this week would be his first at the professional level.

Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman noted that accomplishment might be the second-most important thing on Hossler's mind, though:

He'll likely need to improve on what's already his best form of the season to win the title. There are 40 other golfers within five strokes of the top spot heading into the weekend with nobody able to pull away in the early going, including 21 within three shots.

It's a chase pack spotlighted by Spieth and Fowler. The latter has enjoyed a strong start with the putter, as showcased by the PGA Tour:

Meanwhile, No one made a bigger move Friday than Ian Poulter.

The 42-year-old Englishman rebounded from a lackluster one-over 73 in the opening round to fire an eight-under 64 to improve his position by 100 places in one day. He'll head into the weekend tied for 23rd thanks to the bogey-free performance.

Poulter commented on the rapid turnaround in a Twitter post:

Not everybody enjoyed such a memorable Friday.

Steve Stricker, Camilo Villegas and Rafa Cabrera Bello headlined the group of golfers who fell below the three-under cut line.

Looking ahead, there's always an extra sense of urgency during the final warm-up event before The Masters, which kicks off Thursday at Augusta National Golf Club. Every player in the field this week ticketed to play in the season's first major wants to reach peak form right now.

The Houston Open rarely yields a top-tier winner, though. Phil Mickelson is the only player to capture the title over the past decade that's also a major champion. So perhaps it's not a surprise there are a lot of unheralded contenders near the top of the leaderboard after Round 2.