Shaun Norris was back in contention once again on Friday after a second round of two-under-par 68 in the Japan Golf Tour’s Golf Nippon Series JT Cup at Tokyo Yomiuri Country Club in Tokyo took him into third place ahead of the weekend.

He added that score to his opening round of three-under-par 67to move to five-under at the halfway mark of the tournament. He was five strokes behind the lead of nine-under, which was shared by Keita Nakajima and his Japanese countryman Naoyuki Kataoka.

Norris has had two top-10 finishes in his last three tournaments on what has become his home tour, and he is heading towards the end of the year on a trend towards the upper reaches of the Order of Merit once again.