Paul Lawrie rolled back the years to put himself in pole position for a third victory in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters - but it was difficult day at the office for Northern Ireland's Michael Hoey as he slid down the leaderboard.
Hoey made a good start on Wednesday, carding a bogey-free four-under-par 68 to sit three off joint leaders Pablo Larrazabal and Louis Oosthuizen,.
But the Ballymoney man struggled in Doha on Thursday, shooting a five-over-par 77 to lie on one-over overall, 12 shots off the scorching Lawrie, tied with Dubliner Paul McGinley who followed up his opening 72 with a 73.
The Scot's first win in Qatar came in 1999, the same year as his Open triumph at Carnoustie, with the second in 2012 helping him secure a Ryder Cup return at Medinah after an absence of 13 years.
The 47-year-old also won the Johnnie Walker Championship in 2012 and although he has not tasted victory on the European Tour since, a second round of 66 at Doha Golf Club gave him the lead on 11-under-par, one clear of Belgium's Nicolas Colsaert and two shots ahead of France's Gregory Bourdy, Spaniard Rafa Cabrera-Bello and England's Andrew Johnston.
A putting tip from fellow Scot Marc Warren after missing the cut in Abu Dhabi last week proved crucial, Lawrie adding: "He said the same as everyone else; my putting stroke is too long, it needs to be a little shorter and a little quicker. So I've been working on it the last couple days and certainly feels as though I've got it.
"I hit a lot of putts when I missed the cut last week. All day Sunday I did a lot of work and then came here and I've hit thousands of putts since I got here. So it's only taken a couple days and it feels comfortable."
🙌 Gregory Bourdy celebrates the first hole in one ever on the 8th hole. pic.twitter.com/ObwqUjssI3
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) January 28, 2016
Starting on the back nine, Lawrie birdied the 10th and 12th before dropping just his second shot of the week on the 15th, but bounced back with birdies on the 16th and 18th to reach the turn in 33.
With the wind forecast to strengthen during the day, the early starters knew they needed to take advantage of the better conditions and Lawrie did just that, carding birdies on the fourth, seventh and ninth.
"It was pretty much the same as [Wednesday] to be honest," Lawrie told Sky Sports. "I played nicely tee to green, hit a lot of good shots and only made one mistake, three-putting from 20 feet on the 15th.
"When you play as nicely as that and control the flight of the ball like I did [on Wednesday], you know if you hole a few putts you are going to shoot low, so it was a good day.
"They put the tees forward today, thinking the wind was going to blow pretty hard, and then this morning it was dead calm, so I got a little frustrated after 15 because I thought you are not taking advantage of the conditions. But then I played some nice golf and made a few birdies."
Johnston recovered from a double bogey on the third to card a 69, while Bourdy's 68 featured a hole-in-one on the eighth, the first in the history of the event.
"It's always nice to get a hole-in-one," said Bourdy, who holed out with a six iron from 183 yards. "It's my third on Tour and it's great actually. I missed a few birdies before the eighth and then straight in with a six iron, so it was like two birdies straight.
"Having to play at 6.40, I think it was a good thing this morning. It was not so hard. I think it was blowing a little harder [on Wednesday] and we could feel at the end, the last few holes, it was blowing a little bit more."
Former champion Sergio Garcia, Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen and Sweden's Pelle Edberg were a shot further back on eight under, with Garcia adding a 66 to his opening 70 despite again missing a number of good birdie chances.
The world number 12 partially made amends by holing a curling putt from 40 feet on the eighth which drew some exuberant celebrations from the 36-year-old, who was asked if they were new dance moves by TV interviewer Nick Dougherty.
"Well, I don't know if they were dance moves. They were like jabs," Garcia joked. "When we got to the ninth tee I said to my caddie and to the guys that celebration I think is going to look a little bit funny on TV.
"Probably from the 17th hole onward, I hit six really good putts that looked like they were going in and they didn't. I ended up making a bomb on eight, but obviously it could have been a little bit better."
