Julien Guerrier opened up a commanding lead early on day two of the 2020 Portugal Masters after backing up Thursday's sparkling 62 with an impressive 66 to set a testing clubhouse target.
Frenchman Guerrier played some tremendous iron shots and putted well as he mixed seven birdies with two bogeys in blustery conditions at Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course to move to 14 under par.
That left Guerrier four strokes clear of nearest challenger and first round leader Liam Johnston, who will not arrive at the first tee until 2.50pm on Friday.
Another afternoon starter, Englishman Laurie Canter, was alone in third place on eight under after six holes of his round, while Antoine Rozner, Wilco Nienaber, Adrian Meronk and Marcus Armitage were in the clubhouse on seven under.
Guerrier, who missed much of the 2019 season through injury, began the day a single shot behind overnight leader Johnston but opened his second round with his first bogey of the week to slip to eight under.
He bounced back straight away, though, firing birdies at the second, third and fifth to take over at the top of the leaderboard.
A second bogey of the day arrived at the sixth before Guerrier got up and down for a par on the tricky seventh, stylishly holing his 30 foot putt to remain tied for the lead.
The 35-year-old left long birdie putts short on the eighth and ninth greens but was able to tap in for par on both occasions to keep the bogeys off the card.
After sending his tee shot into the rough on the tenth, Guerrier displayed exceptional distance control with his approach as he lifted his ball to tap-in range for a birdie.
He then increased his lead to two shots with another birdie on the 11th from within five feet as the wind got up.
Guerrier was lucky to avoid the water with his tee shot at the 12th but ended up in the very thick stuff on the bank.
After chopping out onto the fairway, he found more rough over by the green with his third shot but did extremely well to get up and down for a valuable par.
Guerrier continued to make chances but had to settle for pars on the 13th and 14th before taking advantage of the 15th to get to 13 under.
He made another birdie at the par five 17th for the second day in succession before closing his second round with a par to set the clubhouse target.
Guerrier, who sits 125th on the Race to Dubai, said: "I'm feeling great. It looks easy but it's not.
"After shooting nine under it's always tough to make a good score so I'm really happy to have played good.
"I just try to hit it on the fairways and hit the greens after. I'm feeling good on the greens so I think it's a bit easier when you are confident around the green.
"In Valderrama it was really tough so that was more about fighting spirit. After the injury you try to get a good level and find your mark on your game under pressure so it's perfect for me to play on the weekend."
Two players produced a hole-in-one early on Friday afternoon, with Northern Ireland's Jonathan Caldwell making his ace from 210 yards on the sixth and France's Mathieu Fenasse holing his tee shot on the short eighth.
