Ryder Cup pair Paul Casey and Miguel Angel Jiménez became the men to catch in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club as the second round leaderboard began to take shape.
Defending champion Jiménez closed his second round with a 25 foot eagle putt to set the early clubhouse target on six under.
But Casey, winner of the HSBC World Match Play Championship on the course three years ago, had an eagle of his own on the fourth and with birdies on the ninth, tenth and 12th jumped into the lead on eight under.
Casey then holed out with his approach at the par four 13th to secure an eagle and four shot advantage at ten under par.
Jiménez said: “My game today is not as good as yesterday, the scoring result can tell you that, but I played decent.
“I saved a couple of holes, the 13th and the 15th, I saved a par, hitting from into the bunkers, and I hit a nice third shot and left it close on both, two metres on the 13th and three metres on the 15th for par.
“On the other hand, I missed a birdie from three metres on the 14th and from a metre on the 17th. Overall two under par is the right score for the way I played today.”
England's David Horsey, joint first round leader with Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño and Anthony Wall, reached six under par along with Dane Søren Kjeldsen, with one and three holes remaining respectively.
Thomas Aiken was next best in the clubhouse, the South African securing a 67 to go into the weekend five under.
“It’s not as easy as it looked because it's quite difficult to judge the wind around this golf course,” said the 25 year old.
“You just need to keep your wits about you and stay patient. Fortunately, had a really good back nine, so in with a shout.”
American star John Daly was far from happy with how he hit the ball, but three back nine chip-ins gave him a 71 and he looked safely inside the cut mark at level par.
The shots on the 13th and 15th were for birdies, the second of them from a bunker, and then at the long 17th the 1995 Open Championship winner holed out for an eagle.
"I don't think I've chipped in three times in a full year, let alone one day," he said.
"I think I'll pull the driver out of the bag tomorrow and just go with a three wood. I just can't get comfortable off the tee yet - and I've only made one putt outside seven feet."
