Richard Sterne set the clubhouse target as increased winds made scoring more difficult on day two of the Made in Denmark.
Joakim Lagergren, Thomas Pieters and Tom Lewis had all equalled the course record on Thursday with rounds of 62 but they began to move backwards in their second rounds as Sterne moved through the field.
The South African fired a 67 to get to the overnight lead of nine under, two shots behind Welshman Bradley Dredge who picked up three shots in his opening six holes.
Dredge finished runner-up here in 2014 and finished sixth last year, and he picked up shots on the second, fifth and sixth.
England's Lewis shot a one over par 72 to sit at eight under alongside Spaniard Adrian Otaegui and Swede Lagergren, who had a single bogey and seven pars in his first eight holes.
Oliver Wilson shared the low round of the day with a 65 to sit at seven under with local favourites Søren Kjeldsen and Jeff Winther, and South African Thomas Aiken, who all signed for 67s.
Belgian Pieters - playing alongside Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke as he seeks a pick for Hazeltine - was also at seven under with two bogeys in his first five holes.
Sterne is a six-time European Tour winner but has been plagued with back problems for spells of his career and is playing this week on a medical exemption.
When fit he is a formidable competitor - having last won in 2013 - and showed plenty of class as he raced up the leaderboard with two birdies and an eagle in his first six holes.
Bogeys came on the seventh and tenth but further gains on the 15th and 16th saw him moving in the right direction again.
Lewis had also made an early move with birdies on the third and sixth but he would go on to record four bogeys with just a single further gain on the 15th.
Otaegui eagled the sixth for the second consecutive day, adding four birdies and a bogey in a 66, and there were plenty of eagles to be had in the morning session.
Winther holed a wedge from 38 yards on the par four 14th and found the green in two on the sixth for two big birds while Kjeldsen, who parred his first 11 holes, went birdie-par-birdie-eagle from the fourth - a wonderful second shot setting up his move on the sixth.
Wilson was blemish-free with six birdies on the fourth, fifth, sixth, tenth, 14th and 16th, while Aiken also had six gains to go with two dropped shots.
