Danny Willett maintained his two-shot lead as day two of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Hosted by the Rory Foundation got under way at the K Club.
The Englishman was playing his first European Tour event since his Masters Tournament triumph in April and while he opened with an excellent 65, tournament host Rory McIlroy was just two shots behind.
The local favourite moved into a share of the lead at one stage on Friday morning but Willett moved himself clear again with both men turning in one under par 36 as Marc Warren and Felipe Aguilar surged up the leaderboard.
Willett was eight under par after his first nine - the back nine - two clear of McIlroy and Warren and three ahead of Aguilar, with the Scot and the Chilean both four under for their rounds so far.
Willett started where he had left off on Thursday and birdied the tenth to stretch his lead to three shots but McIlroy closed the gap back to two with a gain of his own on the 13th.
Willett - playing in the group behind - then bogeyed the same hole after finding the trees off the tee and when he found a nasty lie in the right rough and flew his chip over the pin on the 15th, he did well to get down in two but his lead was gone.
The 28 year old edged back ahead as he took advantage of the par five 16th and with McIlroy going right off the tee on the 17th and hitting a poor chip, the lead was soon back at two.
McIlroy reduced the gap again with a birdie on the reachable par five 18th but just as he did on day one, Willett followed suit.
Warren was also making good progress and birdies on the 13th, 15th 18th and third moved him alongside McIlroy after 12 holes.
Aguilar came close to victory in his last appearance at the Volvo China Open before he put his tee-shot on the 16th in the water but he was racing through the field in County Kildare.
He bogeyed the first but picked the shot straight back up on the next before making an eagle on the fourth. Further birdies followed on the sixth and ninth to leave him five under after ten holes.
Scot Richie Ramsay had three birdies and a bogey in his first 12 holes to sit at four under, a shot clear of Callum Shinkwin and Jaco Van Zyl - both one over for the day - and afternoon starters Ross Fisher and Martin Kaymer.
