Dale Whitnell carded the lowest round of his DP World Tour career with a stunning 61 to take a commanding six-shot lead into the weekend at the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed.
The Englishman entered day two a shot behind overnight leaders Yannik Paul and Niklas Nørgaard and spent the first half of his round in a nip-and-tuck battle with the German Ryder Cup hopeful as he turned in 30 at Ullna Golf and Country Club.
A hat-trick of birdies from the tenth then catapulted him clear of his rival and talk of a 59 began to ripple around the fairways, before the 34-year-old added further gains at the 15th and last to get to 17 under.
Paul carded a 68 to be the nearest challenger, one shot ahead of Scotland's Richie Ramsay, who picked up four shots in his final four holes in a 66.
A stunning display of iron play which saw just two of Whitnell's 11 successful birdie putts come from outside ten feet helped him record the lowest round of the season and take just one shot more than Ernie Els' record for an opening 36 at the 2004 Heineken Classic.
A hole-out eagle from 96 yards on his final hole of day one provided the springboard for Whitnell's fantastic Friday, and he is now aiming for a maiden DP World Tour win having secured three top tens so far in 2023.
"It was pretty good today," he said. "Obviously yesterday was nice, I had a bit of momentum after holing my last shot and I took it into today.
"I played nicely, hit the right shots at the right time, took my medicine if I needed to if I wasn't in the right positions and holed a few putts which helped.
"I just want to emulate what I've done the first two days. Obviously it would be pretty impressive to do that but I'll just keep the same mindset.
"The golf course is gettable if you give it a bit of discipline, if you try and bite off a bit more than you can chew you will get punished so I've just got to keep that in mind going into the weekend."
Paul had picked up where he left off, putting an approach to 12 feet at the first and taking advantage of the par-five third to get his nose in front, but not far behind him was a charging Whitnell.
A 30-foot birdie putt on the first would be the most work he would have to do on the greens for a while as he put his tee-shot to four feet at the second and made the most of the third to join the lead.
A smart tee-shot at the seventh saw Paul ahead again but he gave the shot back after finding sand off the tee on the next and Whitnell hit another excellent iron shot to take the lead from four feet at the fifth.
The duo were in a real battle and pulling away from the field as Paul got back in a share from 11 feet at the ninth only to see Whitnell inside four feet again on the sixth.
A Paul 14-footer on the 11th got him to 11 under but Whitnell was relentless, putting approaches inside ten feet on the eighth, tenth and 11th before going five ahead at the par-five 12th after Paul had found water on the 14th.
The 59 talk subdued as he made pars on the 13th and 14th but he made the most of the 15th and then hit another remarkable iron to two feet on the last to sit six ahead of Paul, who span an approach to tap-in range at the 17th for his sixth birdie of the day.
Ramsay had been having a quiet day, with birdies at the seventh and 12th before he holed a 61-footer at the 15th for eagle.
He then got within ten feet at the 17th and 20 on the last in a birdie-birdie finish that left him two shots ahead of American John Catlin and three clear of Dane Søren Kjeldsen and South African Justin Walters, who were ten shots off the lead in a tie for fifth.
Angel Hidalgo, Jazz Janewattananond, Frederic Lacroix, Nørgaard, Tapio Pulkkanen and Paul Waring were then at six under.
Ladies European Tour members Emma Grechi and Alice Hewson were in the group at five under in this week's innovative event, which sees 78 men and 78 women play over the same course for one trophy and one prize fund.
