Ross Fisher remained bogey free at the midway point after he carded a superb 67 to take a two shot clubhouse lead at the inaugural Golf in Dubai Championship presented by DP World.
The 40-year-old rolled in seven birdies and a superb eagle on Wednesday to finish his first round alongside Matt Wallace and Frenchman Antoine Rozner in a tie for second at nine under par.
Fisher rolled in five more birdies in his second round to set the early target at 14 under after another flawless display in Dubai.
Overnight leader Andy Sullivan was ahead by two strokes following his new course record of 61 on the Jumeirah Golf Estates - Fire Course, where he also flirted with European Tour history, but Fisher soon reeled in his fellow Englishman.
Starting on the back nine, Fisher made inroads into Sullivan's advantage with a birdie at the 12th to move into double figures for the first time and when he rolled in his second gain of the morning at the 15th - he was joint leader.
But Fisher was not the only player to make a fast start to their second round as Craig Howie made his ascent to the top of the leaderboard.
The Scot made a birdie at the second to nudge up to nine under, only to give the shot back at the fourth before he got hot leading up to the turn.
Successive gains from the fifth saw him reach ten under and when he made it a hat-trick of birdies at the next - he was co-leader.
The 26-year-old took the outright lead with his fourth straight birdie at the eighth and improved his score to 13 under with his fifth gain in a row at the ninth.
Fisher reduced the gap to one shot courtesy of a birdie at the 18th but found himself at the top on his own after Howie started his back nine with bogey-bogey to slip to 11 under.
Five time European Tour winner Fisher birdied the first to climb to 13 under and sit two clear of the rest of the field but the logjam at 11 under was growing.
Howie and Sullivan, who was a later starter on Thursday, were joined by Swedish duo Oscar Lengden and Niklas Lemke.
Lemke broke out of the pack with his seventh birdie at the 16th to move within one of Fisher, only to return to 11 under with a bogey at the 17th.
And as Lemke slipped back to two shots adrift, Fisher increased his advantage to three as he rolled in his fifth birdie of the round to sit at 14 under par.
Dane Thorbjørn Olesen, Scot Marc Warren and Steven Brown, who was in the clubhouse, joined the group at the 11 under but it was Fisher applying the pressure.
He dialled in his approach to his final hole at the ninth to seven feet but lipped out the birdie putt to set the target of 14 under.
Sullivan opened up with a gain to begin his second round to sit two shots back and he was joined by Howie, who closed out with a birdie for a round of 68.
Lemke finished with a bogey to drop to ten under alongside Scot Grant Forrest and Italian Francesco Laporta in the clubhouse, while Warren, Robert MacIntyre, Major Champion Danny Willett, German Max Schmitt and Rozner - on his third hole - were still on the course.
