Ben Evans was looking to repeat his excellent end-of-season charge from 2015 after taking the first-round lead at the KLM Open.
The Englishman's 2015 campaign was one of the stories of the season as he sealed the 110th and final card via the Race to Dubai despite entering the season without an exemption category.
Evans made the cut in eight of his last nine events and fired a closing 65 at the UBS Hong Kong Open that left him agonisingly in 111th position before Brooks Koepka lost his ranking, handing the 29 year old his 2016 playing privileges.
He has made just three of his last 13 cuts but fired seven birdies and a bogey at The Dutch to get to six under as he looks to improve his current Race to Dubai position of 143rd.
Byeong-hun An, Nino Bertasio, Chris Hanson, Peter Hanson, Mikko Korhonen, Joakim Lagergren, Bernd Wiesberger and Dutch amateur Rowin Caron were then all a shot behind at the European Tour Destination.
Evans began his round on the back nine and after picking up a birdie on the tenth, added four in a row from the 12th before dropping his only shot of the day on the 17th. Birdies on the first and fourth followed before five closing pars made him the man to catch.
"I am in a similar position to what I was last year in terms of my card," he said. "I need to play well to keep it but I am confident that I can do that. It only takes one good week to turn everything around and I hope this is the week.
"I holed a lot of putts early on in the round to get me to two under and then hit a few nice wedges in close to get off to a pretty fast start. The putting was the difference today - I holed a lot of mid-range putts which I haven't been doing a lot of lately.
It only takes one good week to turn everything around and I hope this is the week - Ben Evans
"I came here on Monday and had some extra time to practice. I like the course visually. It's like an in-land links and you can see that they have done that with the decision. It looks like a links course and with a lot of slopes and undulations it plays quite like a links course too."
South Korean An and Swede Peter Hanson were playing partners and they put on a masterclass on the sixth as both men put their approaches on the par five inside ten feet to record eagles. They both also recorded six birdies and three bogeys.
England's Chris Hanson made a seventh birdie of the day on the ninth to join Evans at the summit but gave the shot straight back on the ninth - his last.
Finn Korhonen came home in 30 in his 66 while Austria's Wiesberger - who also started on the tenth - was bogey free on his back nine after turning in 34.
Swede Lagergren holed his second on the 439-yard par four 12th with six birdies and three bogeys, while Italian Bertasio signed for six birdies and a single blemish.
Caron was making his sixth European Tour appearance - all at this event - and he was bogey-free with gains on the first, fourth, sixth, seventh and 16th.
Englishmen Matthew Baldwin, Richard Bland, Oliver Fisher, Tommy Fleetwood, Mark Foster and David Horsey were then in the group two shots off the lead alongside Spaniard Alejandro Cañizares, Frenchman Raphaël Jacquelin, Italy's Matteo Manassero, Australian Scott Hend and Thai Natipong Srithong, with 65 players within five shots of the lead.
