Miguel Angel Jiménez increased his lead to two shots as the second round of the KLM Open began in The Netherlands.
The 49 year old Spaniard, looking to break his own record as The European Tour’s oldest winner, had opened with a six under par 65 at Kennemer to lead by overnight.
The former Ryder Cup star extended that advantage to two at Kennemer by birdieing the 14th to turn in a one under par 33 and reach seven under par for the week.
No fewer than ten players were tied for second on five under; Pablo Larrazábal, Damien McGrane, David Howell and Fabrizio Zanotti were all yet to tee off, while Australian Robert Allenby and Scot Gary Orr were level par approaching the turn.
They had been joined by French duo Julien Quesne and Anthony Snobeck and English pair Oliver Fisher and Matthew Baldwin.
Meanwhile three-time winner of the event Simon Dyson turned three under par for the day and as a result was just three behind Jiménez.
Dyson - twice a winner at Kennemer and once at Hilversum - closed the gap to one shot after covering the back nine in 31 and picking up shots on the first and second.
However, Jiménez - himself a winner of the tournament back in 1994 - responded superbly by holing from ten feet for a birdie on the par three third and six feet on the fourth to improve to nine under par and move three shots clear.
Fisher had picked up a birdie on the 18th to join Dyson in second place on six under, but Allenby had slumped seven shots off the pace after running up a triple-bogey seven on the first.
Dyson, whose victories at Kennemer both came in play-offs, was not about to let Jiménez establish a sizeable lead and birdied the sixth and seventh from close range, almost driving the green on the short sixth and then hitting an excellent approach to the par five seventh.
That took him to eight under par, one behind Jiménez and two clear of fellow Englishman Fisher, who remained six under.
