Although he struggled a bit with his short game, Branden Grace managed a three-under-par 69 on Friday in the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Grace, returning to tournament golf after a break following a family loss, made seven birdies and four bogeys on the Pebble Beach course after carding a one-under 71 in his opening round on the Spyglass course. That left him at four-under at the cut, with the final two rounds to be played at Pebble Beach. That’s eight behind leader Jordan Spieth who is showing signs of returning to his very best form.

The other South African in the field, Rory Sabbatini, who now represents Slovakia, missed the cut.

Grace’s bogeys came in each incidence as he missed the green with his approach shots, and then battled to get up and down adequately – and that’s something that will improve as he eases into his return. He only hit a couple of approach shots closer than 15 feet on the par-fours to make birdies, and he will have been pleased with his longer-range putting which kept him in play throughout the round – he made four of his birdies with putts of about 15 feet.

Spieth made six birdies and a bogey to reach halfway in 12-under, one shot clear of Daniel Berger and two ahead off Swede Henrik Norlander. First-round leader Patrick Cantlay went one-over in his second round, and is in a share of fourth at nine-under.