Laurie Canter will take a one-shot lead into the weekend at the 2022 Catalunya Championship after carding a 67 on a happy hunting ground in Girona.
The Englishman was four shots off the lead at the start of play but fired the lowest round of day two with a 67 to get to seven under and lead the way from countryman James Morrison and South African Oliver Bekker at seven under.
Dane Thomas Bjørn, Spaniard Ivan Cantero Gutierrez, Kiwi Ryan Fox, England's Daniel Gavins and Frenchman Adrien Saddier were then at five under.
Canter has tasted success at PGA Catalunya Golf and Wellness before, coming through the Qualifying School here in 2015 and 2016.
They were two of four times he has come through Q School but his sights will now be set on loftier ambitions after back-to-back top-25 finishes in the DP World Tour Rankings in Partnership with Rolex, with three runner-up finishes in the last two seasons.
"I feel like I’ve spent half my life in this part of Spain, between here and Lumine," he said. "I think I’ve been to Q School six or seven times.
"I know it well, know a few of the local restaurants, I guess that counts - you feel comfortable.
"I love this golf course, I love the facilities and everything about it. It’s genuinely a bit of a privilege to play it. I think it’s a really special place."
Canter made his first birdie of the day on the fifth and then took a big stride up the leaderboard as he holed out from the rough on the par-four sixth to sit just one behind the overnight leaders.
Birdies on the tenth and 12th handed him the lead and he had a two-shot advantage with another gain on the 16th before a bogey on the next saw him set the target at seven under.
"I was in between clubs (on the sixth)," he added. "Ended up going with a slightly shorter one, just hoped it jumped out of the rough.
I love this golf course, I love the facilities and everything about it. It’s genuinely a bit of a privilege to play it
"It came out well and, to be honest, it looked like it might be a bit long but one bounce, two bounce and it disappeared. Obviously delighted for that to go in for eagle, pretty unexpected.
"It's such a long week but to play well and compete you need things to go your way and that was definitely a great break. Hopefully I will have good memories of playing that hole over the weekend."
Overnight leader Bekker bogeyed the 11th but got back to six under straight away before an eagle on the 15th saw him take the solo lead.
He bogeyed the 16th and first but a two-putt birdie on the par-five third had him back in a share.
Morrison had also reached seven under as he birdied the tenth and 15th and after a bogey on the next, he holed a long putt on the sixth to get back to the summit.
A bogey on the ninth then saw him sign for a 71 and slip back, while Bekker sandwiched a birdie on the eighth with bogeys on the fifth and ninth in 72.
Fox was another player who had found himself at seven under after birdies on the 12th, 13th and 15th and a hat-trick from the second but he dropped shots on the fifth and ninth in a 68.
Cantero Gutierrez led the home charge as he also carded a 68 containing seven birdies and three bogeys, while Saddier's 69 saw him make five birdies with two dropped shots.
Bjørn - who won the seventh of his 15 DP World Tour titles here in 1999 - continued to roll back the years as the 51-year-old carded a 70 containing four birdies and two bogeys, a feat matched by Gavins.
German pair Sebastian Heisele and Marcel Schneider, Australian Maverick Antcliff, South African Darren Fichardt, Portuguese Ricardo Gouveia, Finn Mikko Korhonen and Dane Thorbjørn Olesen were at four under.
