Gerard's seven birdies earned him 14 points under the Modified Stableford scoring system that awards points for birdies, eagles and better and deducts points for bogeys and worse.

His two-round total of 30 points put him four ahead of Patrick Rodgers, who had seven birdies and three bogeys to amass 11 points.

Sweden's Vincent Norrman had an eagle and five birdies with three bogeys, his 12 points taking his two-day tally to 23.

Gerard's strong opening - featuring 16 birdies in the first two days - has him in position to challenge this weekend for a first US PGA Tour title in his 16th start.

"I played really solid all day," he said. "I've been hitting it great. I think I've hit 16 or 17 greens both rounds out here. So feel really comfortable at the altitude getting the distances to the right spot where I want them.

"I had a little bit of a mud on my shirt from hitting it out of the water on six, but besides that it was relatively stress-free and always nice to hole a few par putts coming down the stretch."

While the scoring system inspires some players to be more aggressive, Gerard said he was trying to focus on hitting "the proper shots to the proper sides."

"I know this is a format where guys like to go out and kind of pin their ears back," he said. "But (I've) just been trying to pick my spots and play to my strengths."

Rodgers, in contrast, was relishing the green light to attack the course.

"I'm doing a good job of making a lot of birdies, which is fun," he said. "I really enjoy this format. I feel like it frees me up. It's fun to play aggressive."

Rodgers even enjoyed the vagaries of playing at high altitude on the Tahoe Mountain Club course.

"We stood there on one of our last holes having about eight different numbers to consider by the time you're doing uphill, downhill, altitude, carry distances, all of that. It's fun, I like the challenge."