HUALALAI, Hawaii >> When first-round leaders David Toms and Joe Durant teed off Friday for their second time through the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, they had plenty of company.

That was a bit of a contrast to the first round where they ended their day three shots clear of the rest of this winners-only field. But thanks to benign conditions that returned to this part of the Big Island for those going off early, there were 20 golfers within two shots of the lead as Toms and Durant headed down the first fairway.

Perhaps that’s why Toms decided to floor it from the start to see if he could put a little more distance between him and the other 41 guys trying to be where he was — atop the leaderboard.

And that’s exactly what he did with a second consecutive 7-under 65 to hold a four-shot lead over Durant (69) and Tom Lehman (65) with a 36-hole total of 14-under 130. It was made more difficult because the breezes that blew all day Thursday returned in the early afternoon from a different direction to wreak havoc for those coming home late in the day.

“It was a tougher day,” Toms said. “The wind was — I think the only time I’ve seen it in that direction was the day we got canceled a couple of years ago, so I never really played the golf course with that wind direction. Made it a little tougher to pull clubs and everything. But to shoot 7 under today, I felt like I played really, really well.”

Toms and Durant shot 7 under through 18 the first day in a more predictable wind pattern. During this picture-perfect morning and early afternoon, past British Open winner Mark Calcavecchia was 7 under for his round after 13 and defending champion Jerry Kelly was 7 under for his round after only 14 holes. Former U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen needed 15 holes to turn the same trick and Fred Couples was 7 under for the day after 16.

Toms was well aware of the birdie fest going on in front him. He put circles on his card the first two holes just to give himself a one-shot lead over Kelly, who suddenly found his game after opening with a pedestrian 71 on Thursday. He fired an 8-under 64 as Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and girlfriend Danica Patrick followed along for a second consecutive round. The two had a little touchdown celebration after Kelly eagled No. 4, something he enjoyed.

“Aaron likes to keep things up and keep it going,” Kelly said. “I like bringing a little football atmosphere to golf. You know, just trying to keep up with his game and what he can, you know, I’m just scratching the bottom of his shoe. It’s kind of fun to have him out here.”

But even though Kelly had the best 18 for the day, he will begin today’s final round tied for fourth at 9 under for the event with three-time winner Bernhard Langer (65) and runner-up last year Colin Montgomerie (66). That may be too far back given how well Toms has managed his game the first two days.

Toms will be paired with Lehman today, who finished runner-up here in 2011 and 2016. He got off to a blistering start with four consecutive birdies in little to no wind.

“The weather was beautiful to start,” Lehman said. “A little bit of breeze, not much, and played the first nine beautifully. I made, I guess four birdies. Could have made a few more, hit some really good putts that didn’t go in. But then the wind started kicking up and I made a few more birdies and got in a bogey-free round, which is one of those things that I’m most happy about.

“You typically can take a lot of momentum and a lot of good thoughts when you play bogey-free golf and today was one of those days. It’s nice to finish rounds well when you start out in a good way. There’s almost nothing worse than starting out hot and then fizzling and falling apart at the end. You just think about what could have been.”

Going into the 15th, Toms was the only golfer on the course who hadn’t put a square on his card for the tournament. But that changed at the par-4 hole and you can blame the wind on that one. Toms did.

“I hit it 20 yards long on 15 from the middle of the fairway,” Toms said. “It just goes to show you how hard it was to pull a club today. So, you’re out there looking at pins that aren’t moving and it’s affecting your ball and it just makes it tough.”