Robert Rock and Alexander Noren have set the second round clubhouse lead at eight under par at The KLM Open, but Henrik Stenson is breathing down their necks.
The Swede, who is already safely in Nick Faldo's Ryder Cup Team after finishes of third and fourth at The Open Championship and US PGA Championship, shot a brilliant 65 to go seven under overall.
It leaves him in a fine position from which to chase his first title of the season - something the Swede is determined to do ahead of the Cup..
He said: "It was nice to get out of the tight pack for the Ryder Cup and it's very exciting to see how the team is shaping up.
"I'm having three weeks off after this, so I'm fresh and ready - I hope. I had a chat with (Phil) Mickelson in Akron a few weeks ago, and they are up for the challenge.
“I have been close a couple of times this season but it would be nice to win this week but those things come when they come – hopefully in bunches – but I am just trying to play well here and get some momentum going so that I can do some good practice and take what I have done there, and this week, to The Ryder Cup.”
England’s Rock did not know there was a place for him in this week's event until he got home from Sweden last Sunday - but he made full use of his chance with a sparkling 64.
Like Stenson, he resumed with three successive birdies; then he had four more in five holes from the 11th.
Denmark's Ryder Cup-chasing Soren Hansen, joint second overnight, set off again with a double-bogey six but recovered to shoot a 69 - and so is six under at halfway and still well in the hunt.
"I got a flier with my second shot and then moved it only a few feet from the hay," said the man in the tenth and last automatic spot, €268 ahead of German Martin Kaymer.
“But to birdie the next was important and settled me down.
"The six was a wake-up call - better than coffee. I managed to scrape it around - but while yesterday was simple, today it was a little bit awkward and not pretty really.
"At the end of the day it was okay, though. As long as my name is on the leaderboard, I'm satisfied - no matter where the others are."
Hansen is tied on six under with Felipe Aguilar and Simon Dyson, who both shot 64, and Michael Campbell.
Kaymer's first task was to survive the halfway cut after starting with a two over 72 - it left him in a tie for 80th, and only the top 65 qualify for the last two rounds - but he did far better than that to keep the Cup race fascinating with only one more week left.
The 23 year old matched Stenson's back-nine 30 and climbed to four under, before bogeying two of the last three for a 66.
Justin Rose and Oliver Wilson, eighth and ninth on the Cup table, and three under and two under respectively through four holes, while first round pace-setter Rolf Muntz has dropped a shot to five under through six.
