Søren Kjeldsen insisted he was enjoying his golf as much as ever and then fired a 68 to share the clubhouse lead on day two of the British Masters Supported by Sky Sports.
The Dane turned 40 in May and just two weeks later won the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open to make it four career wins on The European Tour.
He has had four further top tens since then, including two in the last two weeks, to sit 13th in the Race to Dubai and stayed on course to compete at Woburn over the weekend as he moved to nine under to sit alongside Matthew Fitzpatrick who recorded a 69.
Kjledsen is playing in his 26th event of the season but showed no signs of fatigue in an opening 65, after which he said: "When you play nicely you just want to keep going. I've always enjoyed playing a lot.
"I know a lot of guys take a lot of time off but I love the competition, I love to be out there, I feel that's why I improve so I've always had the strategy of playing a lot."
He began with six pars in his second round but then dropped a shot on the 16th before gaining it back on the next. A birdie followed on the first but, after dropping a shot on the second, his round came to life as he chipped in from a bunker on the third.
Another gain followed on the fifth and when Kjeldsen put his tee shot on the par three sixth to within six feet, he rolled in the putt to become the first man this week to get to nine under.
"I got off to a little bit of a slow start, I played pretty well but I didn't make the putts," he said. "Then I three-putted 16, got it back nicely on 17 and then again - nice birdie on one, bad bogey on two - and then I hit a bad second shot on three into the bunker.
"I focus a lot on the sound when the club hits the sand and straight away I felt like it had a lovely sound to the shot and I just managed to get up on the hill and see it disappear. Nice feeling."
Overnight leader Fitzpatrick, looking for his first European Tour win in his 34th event, picked up where he had left off the previous evening as he birdied the 10th to make it three in a row but then failed to take advantage of the par five 11th as he gave the shot back.
He then steadied the ship with three pars but another birdie followed on the 15th before, for the third time this week, he followed a gain with a bogey as he three-putted the 16th.
Another bogey followed on the first but then the Englishman hit arguably the shot of the week so far as, from the edge of the third green, he hit a two-foot chip beyond 45 degrees of the hole and watched it roll into the cup on the heart of the putting surface.
The 21 year old had eagled the seventh on Thursday and made birdie to get within a shot of the lead before a closing birdie took him back to the top with Kjeldsen.
"It was pretty tough out there today for me," he said. "I didn't feel like I hit it my best so it was nice to score well coming in and shoot 69 to stay at the top of the leaderboard which is always nice."
Of his remarkable chip on the third, he added: "I thought about putting it at first but the rough was a little bit too thick to start with so I just needed to get it out of that and literally just trickle it over the hill and hopefully it was going to go close - luckily it went in."
Shane Lowry, Robert Karlsson and Bradley Dredge were then all in the clubhouse on seven under as the later starters began to make their moves.
Birdies on the 12th and 15th had sent Karlsson to the top on his own but, just as he did on Thursday, he bogeyed the 18th - this time after hitting a greenside tree - and dropped back to seven under.
The Swede, who won the Order of Merit the last time this event was staged in 2008, then birdied the seventh to get within a shot of the leader but gave the shot back on the eighth before parring his last.
World Golf Championships - Bridgestone Invitational champion Lowry quietly went about his business picking up shots on the 12th and fourth before three-putting the par three sixth for his first bogey of the week.
He then recovered that shot straight away on the seventh to sign for a 69.
"I'm pretty happy," he said. "The two par fives on the back nine, I had two little pitches and didn't make birdie which was a bit annoying and I had a bad three-putt on the par three where I made bogey.
"I could have been a few shots better but I'm in a good position going into the weekend and looking forward to it."
Dredge also recorded a two under par round. He bogeyed the third but followed that with a run of three birdies. He then dropped shots at the tenth and 13th but gains on the 15th and the last got him to seven under.
Richard Bland was also at seven under with two to play as he recovered from a bogey-bogey start to get to three under for the day with four birdies and an eagle at the 11th.
Wade Ormsby, Lee Slattery and Rikard Karlberg were then all three under out on the course while Robert Rock was a shot further back after registering the round of the day so far with a 65.
He made four birdies on the way out and two on the way home in an unblemished effort to sit alongside David Howell who carded a 66.
