FALMOUTH, Maine – Brent Grant bounced back from a double bogey at the 16th with an eagle at the 17th on Friday at the Live and Work Maine Open en route to a 5-under 66 and a two-stroke lead at 12-under at the midway point of the tournament. Sixty-six professionals advanced to the weekend with the cutline falling at 2-under 140.

“It would be lame to say a double bounce-back,” laughed Grant, who followed up his eagle with a closing birdie at the 18th. “But yeah, a double bounce-back…Obviously you never want to make a double bogey in the closing stretch, but I have some really good feelings about right-pins on par-5s, especially with some left-to-right wind, so I kind of reached in the cookie jar there on the 17th hole and made the best swing of the day. I got up there and it was six inches away.”

Grant’s 66 followed up an opening 7-under 64 on Thursday that allowed him to earn a four-way tie for the lead after the first round. The rounds mark the third and fourth time he has led/co-led after a round on Tour.

“You want to win golf tournaments, but the only way that happens is if you shut everything out,” said the 25-year-old. “The first tournament of this year, the LECOM Suncoast Classic, I was in a similar position coming into the weekend and my eyes were like a deer in headlights. But I learned a lot from that and same thing in Nashville.”

Grant is seeking his third consecutive top-10, but the previous two were notched with a five-week gap between them. He noticed jolting pains in his wrist in Nashville on his way to a T5 finish, and after consulting a doctor, discovered he had a tear in his TFCC joint in his wrist. He missed five weeks – including three without touching a club – before returning with a T10 finish last week in Wichita.

“There were so many emotions that went through my brain and my heart,” reflected Grant on his injury. “I was a prima donna for a hot second and then I realized I can only focus on what I can control. At that time, it was just myself. I can’t control what the doctors were going to tell me, I can’t control others. I was really fortunate to have a few people to lean on.”

Grant entered the week 71st in the Korn Ferry Tour points standings and projects to move inside the top-30 with a win. He famously qualified for the 2014 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship without a partner after his scheduled partner, a doctor, got called in surgery at the last minute. Grant was 18 at the time.

Grant leads Chad Ramey by two strokes entering the weekend. Ramey, the No. 8 player in the standings, is also seeking his first career win on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Third-round tee times will run from 7:10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday off of the first tee at Falmouth Country Club.