Former Open Championship winner Todd Hamilton equalled the course record and achieved the lowest round of his European Tour career at the Volvo Golf Champions in Bahrain.
The 45 year old American made the halfway cut with only a stroke to spare, but charged into a share of the lead - for a few minutes at least - with an eight under par 64.
Hamilton, who switched to The European Tour after losing his US PGA Tour card, found himself part of a six-way tie at the top on 11 under.
That was because Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke, thanks to a birdie on the opening hole, also joined overnight pacesetters Peter Hanson, Edoardo Molinari, Miguel Angel Jiménez and Raphaël Jacquelin.
Hamilton won The Open Championship at Royal Troon in 2004, beating Ernie Els in a play-off, but has struggled in recent seasons and found himself without a playing category in the States, where Major victories carry a five-year exemption as opposed to the ten years on The European Tour.
However, he had a hat-trick of birdies from the 13th, added another on the 17th to turn in 32 and matched that on the front nine by picking up further strokes at the second, fourth, sixth and eighth.
He equalled the record for the Colin Montgomerie-designed course established by Swede Johan Edfors on Thursday and repeated by Scot Stephen Gallacher in the second round.
Montgomerie himself remained three under with a 72, while Padraig Harrington double-bogeyed the sixth and bogeyed the short next. He did come back with two birdies, but was well down the field as well on four under.
Clarke added further birdies on the third and fifth - the latter from 20 feet - and at 13 under was one in front of Hanson, Edfors, Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez and South African James Kingston.
Jiménez and Hamilton were among those two behind, while Molinari and Jacquelin slipped back to ten under.
Hanson eagled the 541 yard ninth for the second day running and, having birdied the two previous holes, he burst past Clarke and into the outright lead at 15 under.
Clarke drove into the sandy waste on the 322 yard tenth and left it in, but then got up and down to salvage his par four.
Edfors, another to eagle the ninth, was two behind in third spot and then came Jiménez, Kingston, Molinari's brother Francesco and Paul Casey after his birdies at the second and ninth.
