Andy Sullivan carded a second consecutive 66 to set the clubhouse target at ten under on day two of the 2020 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
Low winds led to a low scoring morning at Education City Golf Club and Englishman Sullivan made six birdies and a single bogey for the second day in a row to lead the way by one from Swedish duo Alexander Björk and Marcus Kinhult.
Björk's bogey free 63 was the lowest round of his European Tour career and a fantastic return to form for a player who, by his admission, was short of his best in a 2019 season that saw him record just one top ten.
Kinhult had an eventful 65 with an eagle, six birdies and two bogeys to sit two shots ahead of Danish pair Benjamin Poke and Jeff Winther, Scotland's Scott Jamieson and Englishman Jack Senior on a leaderboard dominated by Scandinavians and Britons.
Overnight leader Nicolai Højgaard was another Dane going well and he picked up a shot in his first four holes to get to eight under.
Sullivan has been one of the European Tour's most consistent performers in recent seasons but has not quite hit the heights that made him a three time winner in 2015, with one top ten so far this season.
The 32-year-old birdied the tenth and the 13th and when he made another gain on the 14th, he led alone.
His solo spell at the top was brief as he dropped a shot on the next but a ten footer on the first and another birdie on the next briefly put him two ahead.
He would not be there for long, however, as Kinhult birdied the tenth, 12th and 14th and, while he bogeyed the next, he birdied the first and eagled the par five second to share the lead.
A 25 foot putt on the fourth edged Kinhult ahead but Sullivan joined him from similar range on the eighth before the reigning Betfred British Masters champion rolled off the same green to surrender a bogey.
Björk made birdies on the second, fourth, fifth, seventh, 12th, 14th and 15th and a long putt on the 17th left him one back.
Poke - victor at last season's Qualifying School - made six birdies and three bogeys in a 67, while Winther recorded five birdies and three bogeys.
Jamieson chipped in on his final hole for a 67, with Senior also holing a chip on the ninth in a 66.
