Li Haotong delighted the home crowd with a flawless 63 to earn a share of the halfway lead with Eugenio Chacarra and Tapio Pulkkanen at the Volvo China Open.
The 29-year-old is the highest ranked of the 39 Chinese players competing in Shanghai and he showed his quality to reel in overnight leader Pulkkanen with six birdies and an eagle to set the clubhouse target of 10 under.
Li, who lifted this trophy in 2016, is relishing the added pressure of the Chinese crowd after posting his lowest professional round on home soil.
"Everything seemed to go my way compared to yesterday. Just very pleased to see this result today," he said.
"I believe everyone has high expectations of me, which is good. I enjoy that pressure and support. Hopefully I can bring some good stuff for the weekend."
Conor Purcell, pictured above, teeing off from the 13th, was comfortably inside the cut line following a second round 70 to post level par overall heading into the weekend.
The Malahide native is in a share for 42nd poisition with two rounds remaining, and Purcell will be hoping to move further up the leaderboard after improving by two shots following his opening 72.
Chacarra, who won his maiden DP World Tour title at the Hero Indian Open two weeks ago, backed up his opening 65 with five birdies and a bogey.
The Spaniard appeared to pick up a thumb injury after playing from thick rough following a wayward tee-shot at the last.
"It was a solid round, my game was sharp," Chacarra said. "I hurt my thumb on the last hole so I'm worried about that, we will see how it feels tomorrow."
Pulkkanen – among the late starters – set a course record of 62 at Enhance Anting Golf Club on Thursday and regained sole leadership after birdies at the fourth and fifth, only to bogey the sixth.
A birdie at the eighth saw him return to 11 under before dropping shots at the ninth and 11th to slip one adrift. However, he birdied the last to make it a three-way tie at the top.
