Shiv Kapur's two under par 68 was enough to give him the clubhouse lead at the KLM Open in The Netherlands.
The 28 year old from India moved to eight under par at the halfway stage at Hilversumsche Golf Club after a round of three birdies and a solitary bogey.
“I hit the ball quite well – I suppose you could always have a couple of shots better,” he reflected. “It would have been nice to birdie the 18th but overall I am happy.
“The conditions are getting tough now so I should be near the lead by the end of the day and a good round tomorrow will keep me up there.“
Having started patiently with seven consecutive pars, the former Asian Tour rookie of the year hit his approach to 12 feet at the eighth for his first birdie.
He collected two more, at the 12th and 17th, with his only dropped shot coming at the par three 15th.
Kapur was level at the top with overnight leader Nicolas Colsaerts.
The big-hitting Belgian was among the afternoon wave of players and played his first eight holes in level par.
One behind in the clubhouse on seven under were former Open Champion Todd Hamilton - playing in Europe after losing his playing card on the US PGA Tour - and Swede Christian Nilsson.
Hamilton, a Major Champion at Royal Troon in 2004 but now 545th in the Official World Golf Ranking, had four birdies and a bogey in his round of 67.
"I didn't have full status on the PGA Tour this year because I was outside the top 125 last year so I wasn't guaranteed a lot of tournaments - I would have maybe got 12-15 but no guarantee," said Hamilton.
"I took up European Tour Membership and came over to play the three events in the Middle East and really enjoyed them. I had never been there before and had a great time.
"Then I had the Masters, The Open, US Open Qualifying and then came back over for Switzerland last week which was great and I am hoping to fulfil my 12 events as a European Tour Member so I have come here this week.
"I had never been to Switzerland and it was great, never been here and its great and then we have Austria and France in the next two weeks which are another two places I have never been.
"I will then play Singapore and Hong Kong towards the end of the year to make up my 12 events. I really didn't have a full tour to play on this year so I looked at the schedule and thought I would come over to Europe and play and see some places that I have never been before. We certainly saw some sights on Monday night downtown Amsterdam!"
Former Saint Omer Open winner Nilsson's 65 included an eagle at the 484 yard par five 12th.
"I'm very happy, I've been struggling quite alot the last couple of weeks so it felt really nice to have a good round," he said.
The group tied for fifth included golf's most recent Major winner - Martin Kaymer continuing to impress on his return to the game after his US PGA Championship heroics with a second consecutive 67.
"We will wait and see what happens this afternoon," said the German. "67 was a reasonable score today - it wasn't the score that I was hoping for because I had the good conditions on the greens this morning but the score is okay.
"I am playing well - I just need to the putts to drop. The same thing happened in the PGA Championship actually, I didn't make a lot of putts for the first couple of days but I tried to be patient and collect my pars and keep giving myself chances for birdies which I did and then they started to drop over the weekend.
"I am playing pretty solid, I missed one drive today but made par from there and apart from that I had a lot of birdie chances. I wasn't always close to the hole but I always had easy pars. I am playing well - I just need the putter to work a little better."
Also six under was home favourite Joost Luiten - second here in 2007 - who made a brilliant birdie at the sixth when, having found trouble off the tee, hacked out sideways onto the fairway and holed his approach, the ball spinning eight feet from the back of the green into the cup.
England's Danny Willett, in-form Australian Brett Rumford and Kapur's compatriot Jeev Milkha Singh were also in the clubhouse with 134 halfway totals.
