Long, who 5-under 65 in Wednesday's first round, continued his solid play with a 2-under 68 and grew his lead from one to two shots entering Friday's third of four rounds at Palmetto Golf Club.

Trailing Long by two shots is Ted Moon of Belmont, who shot the round of the day, a 4-under 66 to stand alone in second place.

Moon shot 69 in the first round and managed to close his own gap on Long with his red-hot 66 on Thursday.

Mercer's Emmanuel Kountakis is third after rounds of 68-69. He's four back of Long's lead.

Ben Dietrich of South Carolina, who shared second place after Round 1 with Ole Miss signee Josh Seiple, shot 72 and fell to a tie for fourth place. He's tied with Jimmy Beck of Kennesaw State (68-70).

Seiple, meanwhile, shot 74 and fell to a tie for ninth place.

The leaderboard certainly opened up during Thursday's action but a number of notable competitors remain in contention with 36 holes still left to play, including: Azalea champion Will Murphy (T6), South Carolina's Mattew NeSmith (T9), LSU star Curtis Thompson (T13) and Memorial champion Cameron Champ (T33).