Shane Lowry moved up five places to tied-sixth with a round of 67 at the half-way point of the Barracuda Championship.
Of the other Irish, Seamus Power is in a six-way tie for 13th, while Graeme McDowell and Padraig Harrington just made the cut on seven points.
Australian Aaron Baddeley moved up two places and carded his second successive 66 to take a one-point lead in the event.
The round-one leader Ollie Schniederjans is a point behind following a costly bogey on the third and an even more costly double-bogey on the par-3 seventh.
Three Americans - John Merrick, Andrew Putnam and Sam Saunders - are tied for third on 23 points, three behind the leader.
The Barracuda Championship - formerly known as the Reno-Tahoe Open - uses a Modified Stableford format, which allocates points based on the number of strokes taken at each hole.
Eight points are awarded for an albatross, five for an eagle, two for a birdie, zero for a par, minus one for a bogey and minus three for a double bogey or worse.
