Hennie Otto carded a brilliant second round 62 to race into a three shot clubhouse lead at the 71° OPEN D'ITALIA Presented by DAMIANI and make Stephen Gallacher's last-gasp bid to qualify for the Ryder Cup significantly more difficult.
Gallacher needs to finish in the top two in Turin to replace Graeme McDowell in the final automatic qualifying place, but found himself 15 shots off the pace before he had even teed off.
Otto completed what would have been a course record but for placeing being allowed on the fairways just five minutes before Gallacher teed off at Circolo Golf Torino, the 38 year old South African carding nine birdies, one eagle and one bogey to set a daunting clubhouse target.
At 15 under par Otto, who won this event in 2008, led by three from Austria's Bernd Wiesberger - who carded a second consecutive flawless 66 - with England's Ross Fisher another three shots behind after also returning a 66.
Italy's Francesco Molinari, who shared the overnight lead with Wiesberger, could only manage a 72 to lie nine off the lead on six under par.
"It's always special to shoot a 62 but a 59 never even crossed my mind," said Otto, who was ten under par after 15 holes and needed to birdie the last three to record the first sub-60 round on The European Tour.
"I didn't really think about my score until my caddie said if I made par on 17 we would have been on course for a ten under par round."
That bogey on 17 is the only shot Otto has dropped in two days, but he responded superbly with a birdie from 30 feet on the last and added: "I really played well, hit some good shots and the greens were running well so you were able to make some putts.
"Something about courses in Italy suits my eye and it would be great to win the tournament. Hopefully I can keep it up and keep going over the weekend."
Molinari had boosted his chances of a Ryder Cup wild card after an opening 66, European Captain Paul McGinley admitting the Turin local was "very much on my mind" ahead of Tuesday's announcement.
However, he could only card two birdies and two bogeys on Friday in a tournament he feels he has to win to earn a third consecutive cup appearance at Gleneagles.
"It's a step back but there are two more days so let's see what happens at the weekend," Molinari said. "It's a course that's hard to go under par day after day, if you miss a few fairways you can get into trouble."
McGinley was set to miss the halfway cut after a 72 left him one over par, but the Irishman was staying in Turin to see how the final place on his team was decided.
