Scott Hend fired a sensational 67 to sit at the top of a congested leaderboard and take a one-shot lead into the weekend at the BMW International Open.
The joint-lowest round of the week in more windy conditions at Golf Club Gut Laerchenhof moved Hend to six under, a shot clear of Qualifying School graduates Nico Geyger and Henric Sturehed.
Englishman Aaron Rai won a BMW i8 Roadster as he made a hole-in-one en route to getting to four under alongside home favourites Martin Kaymer and Maximilian Kieffer, Frenchman Sébastien Gros and Australia's Nick Cullen.
Australian Hend is a two-time winner on the European Tour but his best finish so far this season is a tie for 14th last time out at the Italian Open.
“I just played conservatively,” he said. “Just trying to play on to the fairways and keep out of the long brown stuff.
“It's just patience. When it's this windy, if you're not patient you're going to get smashed, it's as simple as that.
“If you try to push for a birdie or whatever, if you hit it in the rough and make a bogey, it's great, if you get less than a bogey then it's a bonus. It's just one of those golf courses that is quite punishing.”
Hend was level par for the day after a bogey on the tenth and birdie on the 12th but he eagled the par five 15th and then birdied the 17th to share the lead with Gros.
The 44 year old then made seven pars in a row but saved his best for last, making gains on the eighth and ninth to catapult himself into a two-shot lead which Geyger and Sturehed set about reducing in the afternoon.
Swede Sturehed birdied the 11th but dropped shots on the 12th and 14th before an eagle on the 15th put him right in contention. Further gains on the third and fifth had him in a share of the lead but a bogey on the seventh dropped him to five under.
Geyger was level par for his round after 13 holes with birdies on the 12th and third and a double-bogey on the fourth but the Chilean finished with three birdies to fly up the leaderboard.
Rai birdied the tenth and bogeyed the 12th, making another gain on the 15th before producing his stunning ace on the next.
The ball took a bounce in front of the green and another on the fringe before checking and rolling into the cup for the 19th hole-in-one of the season.
“It was a tricky pin position and it was kind of downwind as well,” said Rai, who made his ace with a six iron from 167 yards.
“I actually wasn't playing to get in pin-high, I was playing a little long then it pitched short, bounced perfectly and rolled up and went in.”
Another birdie on the third had Rai in the solo lead but he double-bogeyed the fifth and dropped another shot on the sixth to fall back.
Kaymer - the 2008 champion - started birdie-bogey but then delighted the home crowds with gains on the third, fifth and sixth before a 15-footer on the ninth saw him turn in 32. A poor tee-shot led to a bogey on the 12th but the two-time Major winner bounced back with a birdie on the 15th.
Kieffer was one over for his round after 11 holes but rattled off four birdies in a row from the 12th, while overnight leader Gros fired a level par 72 containing four birdies and four bogeys.
Cullen got within one of the lead when he made five birdies in eight holes from the eighth but he dropped a shot on the 16th.
Danish pair Thorbjørn Olesen and Søren Kjeldsen were at three under after rounds of 68 and 69 respectively, a shot clear of Christofer Blomstrand, Mark Foster, Wade Ormsby, Thomas Pieters and Matt Wallace.
