Indian Jeev Milkha Singh was joined at the top of the leaderboard by Dane Søren Hansen as the second round of the Irish Open presented by Discover Ireland neared its conclusion.
Singh added a one under par 70 in the morning session to his career-best 63 to set the clubhouse benchmark at nine under in Killarney.
And former Ryder Cup star Hansen joined him when he fired a five under par 66.
“I played again sort of very, very similar round to yesterday,” he said. “I just kept my head on very well. There was a few loose drives on the last nine holes, but hopefully I can sort that out by tomorrow, otherwise I played pretty good.”
Singh, whose day started with him hitting into the hazard by Lough Leane, said: "It was a bit more of a struggle, so I'm happy with one under.
"I didn't drive it that well and my putting was not as good, but it was still good enough."
They were one clear of Germany’s Marcel Siem, who was among the late starters and still had seven holes to play.
No fewer than five players were two shots off the pace in the clubhouse – Australian Richard Green and France’s Raphaël Jacquelin joining English trio Simon Dyson, Ross Fisher and Simon Wakefield on seven under at the halfway stage.
“I've got good memories from last year,” said defending champion Fisher. “I like the golf course, it fits my eye well, not playing as well as I did last year, but hopefully a little bit of work on the range, a good warm-up session tomorrow, go out there, shoot a good score and give myself a nice position to be in at the end of Saturday.”
Spain’s Ignacio Garrido was also seven under with one to play.
