FORT WORTH, May 24, 2014 (AFP) - Garnett had a seven-under-par total of 133, with Chris Stroud and Robert Streb a stroke back on 134 and seven players sharing fourth place on 135.
That group at five-under included first-round leader Dustin Johnson, who carded a 70, and South African Tim Clark, who birdied four holes in a row from the 12th en route to a 68.
Australian Aaron Baddeley (67), England's Brian Davis (67) and Americans Bo Van Pelt (68), Chad Campbell (66) and Jimmy Walker (68) were also in the group on 135.
Garnett, whose only mis-step was a bogey at the par-four third hole, continued a strong run of play in Texas. He notched his first top-10 PGA Tour finish six weeks ago at the Houston Open, where he finished with a share of seventh.
"For some reason, it's just I've kind of adapted to Texas golf," he said. "Growing up back home in the spring and fall, it gets pretty windy as well. I kind of relish whenever the wind blows ... kind of got to control your ball."
Stroud's round included eight birdies. He made five putts from outside 20 feet, four of them coming in his final nine holes.
"Man, it sure is nice to make putts," Stroud said. "I was so relaxed out there. It was obviously a little luck.
"But the key is every putt I hit today, I hit really, really solid," added Stroud, who drained a monster 56-footer for birdie at the par-three fourth.
While Johnson wasn't able to maintain his spot atop the leaderboard, he said his even-par 70 wasn't bad.
"Just didn't hole the putts," he said. "Got a couple of bad kicks. Other than that, I played pretty solid again today."
Australian Adam Scott, playing this week for the first time as the world's top-ranked player, picked up three strokes on his inward run to post a two-under 68 that left him on one-under for the tournament.
Scott, who supplanted injury-idled Tiger Woods atop the world rankings on Monday, capped his round with a 23-foot birdie putt at 18.
Scott's first stint as world number one could prove to be short-lived. The Australian can be overtaken this week by Sweden's Henrik Stenson, who is playing in the European PGA Championship at Wentworth.
Leading second-round scores on Friday in the $6.4 million USPGA Tour's Colonial tournament (USA unless noted, par-70):
133 - Brice Garnett 67-66
134 - Chris Stroud 70-64, Robert Streb 66-68
135 - Bo Van Pelt 67-68, Dustin Johnson 65-70, Aaron Baddeley (AUS) 68-67, Chad Campbell 69-66, Jimmy Walker 67-68, Tim Clark (RSA) 67-68, Brian Davis (ENG) 68-67
136 - Jason Dufner 67-69, Jordan Spieth 67-69, Harris English 66-70, David Hearn (CAN) 67-69, Brian Harman 69-67, Brandt Snedeker 70-66
137 - Matt Jones (AUS) 70-67, Hunter Mahan 66-71, Chris Kirk 73-64, Marc Leishman (AUS) 69-68, Nicholas Thompson 69-68, Tim Wilkinson (NZL) 66-71
138 - Heath Slocum 69-69, Brendon de Jonge (ZIM) 70-68, Freddie Jacobson (SWE) 67-71, Ryan Palmer 69-69, Brendon Todd 69-69, David Toms 72-66, Sean O'Hair 69-69, Billy Hurley 71-67, Charley Hoffman 70-68, Jim Furyk 69-69, Bill Haas 70-68, Robert Allenby (AUS) 68-70, Ben Martin 70-68