Tom McKibbin carded a second-round 65 to move two shots clear at the halfway stage of the Hong Kong Open.
The 22-year-old made a blistering start on Friday by recording the lowest round of his career and a course record at the Asian Tour event with a sensational 60.
McKibbin, who is attempting to secure a place at next year's Masters and Open Championship after joining the breakaway LIV Tour, failed to reach those heights on Friday, but another bogey-free round that included five birdies saw the Antrim native move into the third round sitting top of the pile on 15-under par.
The highlight of the round was arguably a 25-foot putt on par-3 12th, which kickstarted a run of three successive birdies.
He holds a two-shot lead over a trio of players on 13-under par.
American Peter Uihlein, as well as Thai pair Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Jazz Janewattananond are his nearest challengers, with Louis Oosthuizen, Thomas Pieters and Charles Howell III a further shot adrift.
Not surprisingly, McKibbin is pleased with how things have panned out in his opening two rounds.
"Very, very solid day," he said after round two. "Game played very, very similar to yesterday. Just didn't hole as many putts. But yeah, very happy to keep the bogeys off the card.
"I’ve taken the approach of going into this week just to sort of play very aggressive and sort of just whatever the outcome is, come the end of the week, it is what it is."
