An eagle two at the par four 16th helped Seamus Power on the way to an excellent 67 on day two of the Olympic golf tournament to move himself into the top 10 and sit six shots behind leader Marcus Fraser.

Meanwhile, Pádraig Harrington struggled to gather any momentum as he had to settle for a level par round of 71 to remain one under.

Birdies on the par five fifth and the par four fourth got the 29-year-old off to a good start in Rio and he closed out his front nine with consecutive pars to go out in a two under 33.

That momentum continued into the back nine with consecutive birdies at the 10th and 11th moving him to four under for the day.

A bogey at the par four 15th after a thinned bunker shot threatened to derail a great round but he pulled it back on the next hole in most impressive fashion.

After driving to within a few yards of the green at the 288 yard par four, the West Waterford man pitched in for a bonus eagle two to get to five under.

A bogey at the 17th knocked him back to four under but he finished with a solid par to go into the third round in the top 10.

After four bogeys and two birdies in his opening 14 holes, Harrington rallied to a birdie-birdie finish to save a round of level par.

However, that leaves him eight shots behind leader Marcus Fraser and in a tie for 20th.

After a 63 yesterday, Australia’s Fraser struggled to build up the same momentum today and could only manage a two under round of 69.

However, that maintains his lead but only by a shot from Belgium’s Thomas Pieters who followed yesterday’s 67 with a 66 on Friday.

Olympic golf leading scores after round two

-10: Marcus Fraser (Australia)

-9: Thomas Pieters (Belgium)

-8: Henrik Stenson (Sweden)

-6: Gregory Bourdy (France), Justin Rose (Britain)

-5: Rafa Cabrera-Bello (Spain), Graham DeLaet (Canada), Danny Lee (New Zealand)

-4: Cheng Tsung Pan (Chinese Taipei), Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark), Alex Cjeka (Germany), Seamus Power (Ireland)