Australian duo Nathan Green and Rod Pampling both failed to keep pace with leaders as Jerry Kelly soared into the halfway lead at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans. Starting the day tied for second at five-under, Green could only manage an even-par round to slip down to a tie for 21st. Pampling fared marginally better with a one-under-par 71 to be equal with Green at five-under overall. Fellow Australian Jarrod Lyle is also at five-under, while Jason Day is a further shot back. Matt Jones is at three-under, John Senden and Greg Chalmers are at two-under, and Steve Allan and Aron Price will be playing the weekend after just surviving the one-under cut. James Nitties, Nick O&aposHern, Stephean Leaney, Steve Elkington, Marc Leishman and Peter Lonard can concentrate on the next tournament after all failed to make the cut. American Kelly, who walked off the course last week after taking 10 on one hole, took the halfway lead after a six-under-par round. The 42-year-old added a 66 to his opening 68 to reach 10-under par at the TPC Louisiana course, one in front of compatriots Troy Matteson and Charley Hoffman. Kelly&aposs form was in total contrast to his performance at the Verizon Heritage tournament, where he dropped five strokes in the first five holes of his second round before running up his quintuple bogey and quitting. A PGA Tour media official said then that the player had been battling an illness all week and &aposjust couldn&apost take it any more&apos. After coming home in 32 on Friday Kelly explained: “Dislocated rib, then I got the flu. It&aposs a different week, you feel different and that&aposs the way it is.” “The (physio) guys in the trailer did a great job on me and I didn&apost have to medicate myself.” “The pain was right where it connects to the spine – nasty, not fun.” “I&aposm coming off just a bad few years it seems like. It never seemed to really fall together – I&aposd get an injury, I&aposd get sick. Getting old, it&aposs tough.” The professional debut of 18-year-old New Zealander Danny Lee, youngest-ever winner on the European Tour two months ago, ended two days earlier than he wanted as well. Lee could not recover from an opening 76 and finished near the rear of the field. Last year&aposs youngest-ever US Amateur champion, with several more US Tour invites lined up already, has decided to take up his European Tour membership. The deadline for him to make up his mind was next Tuesday. Zurich Classic After Round 2 -10: Jerry Kelly 68 66 -9: Troy Matteson 71 64, Charley Hoffman 69 66 -8: David Toms 68 68, Charlie Wi 66 70, Parker McLachlin 67 69, John Merrick 67 69, John Rollins 69 67 -7: Kevin Stadler 70 67, Ian Poulter 71 66, David Mathis 72 65, Rory Sabbatini 70 67, Charles Howell III 68 69 -6: KJ Choi 72 66, Greg Owen 70 68, Eric Axley 67 71, Roland Thatcher 68 70, Martin Laird 68 70, Steve Marino 70 68, Aaron Watkins 70 68 Also: -5: Nathan Green (Australia) 67 72, Rod Pampling (Australia) 68 71, Jarrod Lyle (Australia) 69 70 -4: Jason Day (Australia) 69 71 -3: Matt Jones (Australia) 72 69 -2: John Senden (Australia) 70 72, Greg Chalmers (Australia) 69 73 -1: Steve Allan (Australia) 76 67, Aron Price (Australia) 73 70 +1: James Nitties (Australia) 71 74 +2: Nick O Hern (Australia) 75 71, Stephen Leaney (Australia) 72 74 +3: Steve Elkington (Australia) 73 74 +4: Tim Wilkinson (New Zealand) 71 76, Marc Leishman (Australia) 73 75 +7: Danny Lee (New Zealand) 76 75 +11: Peter Lonard (Australia) 76 79