Paul McGinley continued to impress on his return from knee surgery in Malaga as he closed in on leader Søren Kjeldsen.
The former Ryder Cup hero, who has now had to have six operations during his career, was only two shots off the lead at the Open de Andalucia de Golf when he started his second round with a birdie.
And despite dropping a shot two holes later at the 12th, he eagled the 14th - his fifth - to move to four under par.
Defending champion Kjeldsen, also resuming on the back nine, parred his first four holes then matched McGinley's heroics on the 14th only to drop a shot at the next.
That put him six under, one ahead of his fellow overnight leader - former Open Championship winner Paul Lawrie, who was among the day's later starters.
England's Richard Finch had joined Lawrie on five under with three birdies in his first five holes.
