Jamie Donaldson will take a two-shot lead into the weekend at the Nordea Masters after firing a second consecutive 69 at Barsebäck Golf and Country Club.
The Welshman has a good record in the event, with four top tens between 2008 and 2011, but has not been at his best this season thus far, making three cuts in eight events.
His eight under par total easily saw him through to the weekend in Malmö, though, and he will tee-off on Saturday with Italian Renato Paratore as his nearest challenger.
English duo Max Orrin and Graeme Storm, and Frenchman Benjamin Hebert were then at five under, a shot clear of Canadian Austin Connelly, Dane Thorbjørn Olesen and England's Chris Wood.
Donaldson will be going in search of a fourth European Tour title and a first since the 2014 D+D REAL Czech Masters, a victory that sealed his place on the Ryder Cup team where he went on to seal the winning point.
After Storm and Orrin had set the target in the morning, Donaldson quickly joined them with a birdie on the first before he made ten pars in a row including an impressive save from the fringe on the tenth.
A six-footer on the 12th saw him take advantage of the par five and when he rolled an 18-foot right-to-lefter up the hill on the next, he was in control. A bogey followed on the 15th but he recovered from a poor tee-shot on the 16th to capitalise on another par five before putting his approach to the 17th to four feet.
"I played nicely," he said. "There were times when the ball wasn't where I wanted it to be, but I made some great escapes.
"The chipping and putting has been better over the last couple of days. I have been playing quite nicely recently but just not quite putting it all together but the first couple of days here, I've been able to do that."!
