Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat hit a superb eight-under-par 64 to join Henrik Stenson and Raphael Jacquelin at the top of the leaderboard at the BMW International Open, where Masters champion Danny Willett failed to make the cut.
Aphibarnrat produced an ea gle on the par-five 13th followed by three birdies over the closing four holes to better Stenson's earlier round of 65 which had given him a share of the overall lead with a total of 11 under.
The 27-year-old, a three-time winner on the European Tour, dropped a shot at the par-three fourth and went into the turn on 34 before his superb back nine, which was bolstered by sinking the 519-yard 13th in just three strokes.
"After I hit many good shots on the front nine, I got my confidence back and I believed in myself that I'm one of the top players," Aphibarnrat told www.europeantour.com.
"This card is about the first shot. You put yourself in the fairways, you have opportunities to make a lot of birdies, and my putter was working better than yesterday. Striking the ball great at the flag, every single ball. It was a fantastic round."
Earlier Stenson, who was forced to pull out of the US Open because of a knee problem, did not drop a shot on day two at the Golf Club Gut Larchenhof in Pulheim. T he Swede carded seven birdies on the way.
"It was definitely a very solid round," said Stenson, as he looks to improve on his runner-up spot in the past two years over the weekend.
"I hit most of the fairways and most of the greens, I could have been closer on a couple of them, but greed is a terrible thing."
Frenchman Jacquelin added a sound 68 to his impressive opening round of 65.
Following a brief 48-minute interruption because of the threat of lightning, Jacquelin made a promising start with three birdies across the opening seven holes.
A four at the par-three eighth proved the only blemish on his consistent card, which included two more shots picked up over the back nine to set the clubhouse target.
He said: "I'm just going to focus and stay focused on what I'm doing at the moment on my swing and my short game.
"The rest, I'll try my best to shoot low again, and we'll see at the end of the weekend."
Sergio Garcia had at one stage looked to be in contention after racing up the leaderboard, but late bogeys and finding the water on 17th saw him sign for a 68, which put him tied for 14th.
The Spaniard started the day at one under, but gained momentum with four birdies off the front nine.
A hole-in-one on the par-three 11th followed, which secured the 36-year-old a seven-night hotel stay anywhere in the world from one of the sponsors.
Although Garcia picked up another shot on the 13th and 15th, bogeys at the 14th and again on the par-three 16, before ending up in the water at 17, disrupted his round.
Elsewhere, Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen is on 10 under after adding another round of 67 while Zander Lombard is a shot further back after posting 68.
Chilean Felipe Aguilar double bogeyed the 18th to end an otherwise promising day at seven under and t he tournament's defending champion Pablo Larrazabal also fell back to seven under after a double bogey of his own on the 15th.
Willett, meanwhile, had another round to forget. The Englishman, 28, had opened with a two-over par 74 following a couple of double bogies.
Although the world number nine picked up three birdies, another bogey on 12 saw him sign for two under, which was not enough to beat the cut.
Source: PA
