The Swede and the Englishman took turns beating every other stroke and got around on 68 strokes, four under par, with seven birdies and three bogeys.
Despite being three strokes worse than Thursday's first round, the duo rose like a rocket in the results list, as the majority of the other competing pairs had it even tougher in the windy weather.
None of the pair's bogeys caused them to lose concentration, instead they immediately caught up with them with a birdie on the hole after.
- Henrik was a rock today.
I do not think he made a single mistake that caused us to lose a shot.
It was really fun to play with someone who was so stable today, says Justin Rose after the round.
Had a real lack of form
The words of encouragement from Rose may be needed.
Henrik Stenson, reigning Olympic silver medalist, is chasing an Olympic place after having had a real slump.
He is no longer in the top 100 on the rankings, but showed small glimpses of his former self already in the US Masters two weekends ago.
In total, Stenson and Rose are eleven under par ahead of Saturday's third round.
They share third place with Americans Bubba Watson and Scottie Scheffler.
In a split lead of 13 under par are the Americans Cameron Champ and Tony Finau and the Norwegians Viktor Hovland and Kris Ventura.
MORE GOLF: Here she hits with a hole in one
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Here she strikes with a hole in one