A closing double bogey from Ryder Cup Dane Søren Hansen left England's Chris Wood and Australian Scott Strange sharing the halfway lead at the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Cologne.
Wood, the 21 year old from Bristol who was third in The Open Championship in July, continued his bid for a first European Tour title with a 69.
For the second day running he kept a bogey off his card - he cannot recall ever doing that on consecutive days in his career - but his round did include a chip-in par at the short eighth and then a holed bunker shot on the 458 yard 14th.
"It was a bit of a battle, but I'll take another 18 holes without a bogey - and hopefully another 36," said Wood, who now stands nine under par.
Only two players, Englishman David J Russell and Swede Jesper Parnevik, have ever gone through a tournament without dropping a shot and both of them won.
"As long as I keep putting myself in position a win is going to happen. I just hope it's sooner rather than later," Wood said.
"The greens here are up there with the best I've ever putted on, but that has got to be some of the tightest flags I've ever played to."
Strange, winner of last year's Celtic Manor Wales Open and this season's Volvo China Open, scored a 68, while Hansen's 71 dropped him into a tie for third with South African James Kingston and England's Ross Fisher.
“I played a bit scrappy today,” said Strange. “I got the ball on the greens and made some putts which was good. Made a bogey on 16 which was disappointing but a good save on 18 helped the momentum for the weekend.
“It’s a good golf course - you’ve got to find the fairways. I guess whenever you’ve won on this Tour you feel capable of doing it again. The Race to Dubai is in my mind but the golf will take care of that.”
Hansen had not dropped a shot himself over the first 29 holes and led by three, but he then bogeyed the 12th and 14th to bring the chasing pack back into things.
A birdie on the 523 yard 15th appeared to have settled the 2007 winner down again, but he hooked his drive down the 456 yard 18th into the water and then went over the green for three.
"I struggled with the driver, had a few loose shots and then a really wild one at the last," he said. "I also went in the lake at the end of my second round two years ago."
The difference then, though, was that he scrambled a five rather than a six and still led.
Fisher, with a chance to move up from sixth to third on The Race to Dubai and into the World's top 20, was joint leader with two to play, but pushed his pitch to the 17th into the water and bogeyed.
"Switching drivers today was a big help, but I'm disappointed the way I finished," he said. "I was just trying to play a little left of the flag on 17, but it seemed to cut into the breeze and as soon as I saw it going right I knew it was swimming."
Fisher, who then missed a birdie chance from under six feet on the last, added: "I'll take the positives from the day. That's the way it goes sometimes."
Kingston would have made it a three-way tie at the top but for bogeying the 18th in his 69.
England's Graeme Storm, Scot David Drysdale and Swede Niclas Fasth are joint sixth on seven under, one ahead of a group which includes World Number Six Henrik Stenson.
