Nicolai Højgaard admitted he was taking motivation from twin brother Rasmus' win last week in carding a 63 that put him right in the mix heading into the weekend at the Genesis Scottish Open.
Rasmus delighted the home crowds as he lifted the trophy at the Made in HimmerLand, becoming the first Dane to win the event on home soil.
In 2021, Nicolai won the DS Automobiles Italian Open seven days after Rasmus had tasted victory in Switzerland and after making seven birdies, an eagle and two bogeys at The Renaissance Club, Nicolai admitted his sibling's success does have an effect.
"Every time one of us plays well, the other one seems to get a little bit extra motivated." he said. "Seeing Rasmus win last week made me probably work a little bit harder or be a little bit more focused on doing the right things.
"This week, I've played some good golf so far and it's nice to see."
Højgaard had made the most of the par-five tenth and holed a long putt on the 14th but he then dropped a shot on the next before a fantastic burst of scoring.
He capitalised on the par-five 16th, put his tee-shot to tap-in range on the par-three 17th, put an approach to four feet on the first and then chipped in for eagle at the par-five third.
An approach to inside five feet on the fourth brought a birdie and while he hit the 18th fairway with his drive on the fifth, he got up and down to pick up seven shots in eight holes.
A bogey on the seventh took a little of the gloss off the performance but Højgaard was happy with his work.
"The course is gettable out there," he said. "It's quite soft. We had two different wind directions these two days, so the course is playing different.
"But it seems like the early group out today found a way around with good scores, so the course is definitely gettable, so it's good to see.
"It's just about staying patient all the time and trying to plot yourself around. I did a really good job today so hopefully I can keep building on that in the weekend.
"I'm looking forward to it. I haven't played that much good golf lately so it's nice to see a good round early. So I really look forward to grinding it out."
