Grant Forrest set a new course record to delight the home fans as he moved into a one-shot lead at the Nexo Championship.
The Scot, who is based in North Berwick, began his second round four shots off the pace set by overnight leader Richard Sterne, but climbed up the leaderboard thanks to four birdie in his first five holes.
He dropped his only shot at the seventh in windy conditions at Trump International Golf Links before bouncing back at the eighth with a birdie.
Forrest picked up another shot at the 10th and added another birdie at the 16th to be the only player at seven under thanks to his stunning 66, which surpassed the previous mark by one shot set by Sterne during the first round.
"It was tough again today," Forrest said. "The wind was up, just played brilliant to be honest. Gave myself loads of really good chances and controlled my ball really well.
"Rolled a couple of putts in and left a couple out there, and overall great day.
"You don't get too many of those days where things really happen for you. This season has been a bit of a struggle for the most part, so just to play some really good golf is really encouraging.
Ireland's Conor Purcell is comfortably inside the cut mark in tied-25th after a battling round of 72 on Friday.
Starting on the 10th, the Portmarnock golfer was rocked by a double-bogey on 11 but recovered with birdies on the 12th and the par-5 15th. He dropped another shot after missing the short-16th green to the left.
However, he drained a 37ft-birdie putt on the second and a dropped stroke on the eighth was quickly answered with a birdie on his final hole at the ninth, after he knocked his approach to nine feet.
The even-par round in testing conditions saw the Dubliner climb into the top 25, on one over par overall, three strokes inside the cut mark.
Purcell, who has two top 20 finishes in his maiden season on Tour, has now made three cuts in succession.
Jordan Smith recorded 69 for the second successive round to sit one adrift of Forrest in second, with fellow Englishmen Alex Fitzpatrick and Todd Clements in a share of fifth at two under.
