Steve Webster had to be persuaded to tee it up at the Made In Denmark but he will take a one-shot lead into the weekend at Himmerland Golf & Spa Resort.
The Englishman's grandmother had a fall at the weekend and it was only after some coaxing from his father that Webster decided to come and play in just his ninth event of the season after losing his card last term.
An opening 64 handed him a share of the first-round lead and on a much windier Friday in Farsø, Webster carded a 70 to get to eight under and lead the way from 2014 champion Marc Warren, his successor David Horsey, India's SSP Chawrasia and Ireland's Paul Dunne.
Lasse Jensen led the home charge in the group at six under alongside Spaniard Nacho Elvira, Frenchman Benjamin Hebert, Australian Wade Ormsby, England's Robert Rock, American Julian Suri and China's Ashun Wu.
Webster had been an ever-present on the European Tour since winning the Qualifying School in 1995 until losing his card while playing on a medical exemption last season and has two wins under his belt.
A wrist injury has curtailed his progress in recent times but he admitted the health of his grandmother has put those troubles in perspective and he feels that may be helping him this week.
"I have to be honest and say I haven't been thinking too much about the golf this week," he said. "My mind has really been thinking about my nan back home because she had a nasty fall at the weekend. Thankfully she is making a recovery and maybe taking my mind away from the golf has been a good thing.
"It was very tough out there today. It was gusting to 30 miles per hour and was mostly a cross-wind off the left which is very difficult to play in. But I played well and was very patient - anything under par today feels like a 65 yesterday so I'm very happy.
I'm looking forward to the weekend, I am swinging it well and just need to stick to the boring stuff of one shot at a time - Steve Webster
"All I was trying to do was make pars and give myself a chance here and there and when I did that I managed to take them.
"I'm looking forward to the weekend, I am swinging it well and just need to stick to the boring stuff of one shot at a time."
The 42 year old began his second round with 11 straight pars before he broke that run with a birdie on the 12th but gave the shot straight back on the next. An impressive up-and-down from the sand on the 14th and a stunning approach to the 17th put him in control before a poor tee-shot led to a closing bogey.
Warren has not made the weekend in his last ten events but recorded eight birdies in a 64 that was the lowest round of the day.
Starting on the back nine the Scot turned in 33 before some brilliant iron play saw him rattle off five birdies in a row from the first - including a near ace on the second. A bogey on the sixth threatened to stall his momentum but he claimed the shot straight back to head into the weekend well in the hunt.
Chawrasia is the only man in the field to have not recorded a bogey this week and he made birdies on the 17th, third and seventh in a 68.
Dunne also recorded a 68 with five birdies and two bogeys while Horsey turned in 36 after starting from the tenth but made five birdies on the way in for a 67.
Wu was five under for his last seven holes in recording a 65 with Rock signing for a 68, Jensen, Elvira and Suri 69s, Hebert a 70 and Ormsby a 72.
Home favourite Joachim B Hansen had led at nine under before coming home in 39 and he was five under alongside countrymen Søren Kjeldsen and Mads Søgaard, Frenchmen Victor Dubuisson and Grégory Havret, Americans John Daly and David Lipsky, England's Chris Paisley and South African Haydn Porteous.
