Retief Goosen continued to set a hot pace in the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open in Hamburg today.
Joint overnight leader with Padraig Harrington after an opening 65, the South African picked up two more birdies in his first three holes to reach nine under par.
That put him two ahead not only of Harrington, among the second round's later starters, but also Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, who had a hat-trick of birdies from the 12th after also resuming on the back nine.
One further back was Ryder Cup Swede Niclas Fasth, who covered his first seven holes in two under, while Nick Faldo kept alive his hopes of climbing back into the race for the £322,474 first prize with birdies at the 11th and 13th.
They lifted Faldo, without a win in Europe since 1994, to four under par and ahead of world number one Tiger Woods.
Chasing a third successive victory in the event - and a fourth in five years - Woods began with a bogey-free 69 to trail Goosen and playing partner Harrington by four.
He was joint 15th overnight and likely to be considerably more than that behind by the time he teed off again at 1 p.m. local time.