Davis shot a stunning seven-under 65 opening round and was tracking nicely on Friday until the blemish on the 18th, which restricted him to a four-under 68 at Spyglass.
"Honestly, played pretty well for most of the round," Davis said.
"The bogey on the last was a little annoying, but same time four under felt like a pretty solid day today."
Davis, 11 under for the tournament, remains firmly in the mix and will play in the final group on Saturday along with Russell Henley (69), who is in joint second place with him, and leader Straka (65).
View this post on Instagram A post shared by PGA TOUR (@pgatour)
The in-form Sydneysider plans to keep it simple and not change anything, knowing he has the game to compete.
"You don't change anything if you're playing well," he said.
"Been playing well, so go out and do the same things, play well again tomorrow."
Davis made a lightning start when he made eagle on the first, setting him up for the rest of the round that included four birdies and two bogeys.
He recalled it vividly.
"Good tee shot, left side of the fairway, just tugged my second shot a little left, but it came up just short left of the green. Had to hit sort of a flop shot over the rough line, on the fringe and try to roll it out.
"Hit the pin dead centre and went in, so perfect."
Straka, who won The American Express tournament last month for his third career PGA title, is the player to catch.
The Austrian Ryder Cup player carded his second successive seven-under-par round at Pebble Beach.
He said the key to his strong start was the putting, which was evidenced Friday by a 23-footer and a 15-footer he made for two of his birdies.
"Made a few setup changes in my putting and that's really helped out a lot," Straka said.
"Palm Springs was the first time in a long time I felt that I had four really good putting rounds in a row.
'That's definitely made a huge difference."
Scottie Scheffler recaps his epic par save to close out his second round — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) @attproam pic.twitter.com/b9GXCdJeoJJanuary 31, 2025
Of the other notables, Rory McIlroy (66, 70) is at eight under while world No.1 Scottie Scheffler (67, 70) is one behind.
Two shots further back in the field is former world No.1 Jason Day (70, 69), while Min Woo Lee (69, 71) is at four under.
Adam Scott followed his first-round 74 with a 71 to sit at one over.
with agencies
