Joakim Lagergren continued his love affair with The K Club to take a one-shot lead into the weekend at the 2025 Amgen Irish Open.
The Swede's superb 62 took him to 12 under par and kept him ahead of Adrien Saddier, who followed up his opening 67 with a 66 on Friday to reach 11 under.
World Number Two Rory McIlroy moved to the forefront of the chasing pack at seven under and was inches from a closing albatross which would have put him even more menacingly on the leaders' heels.
Lagergren began his round from the tenth with three straight birdies to get his challenge up and running after an opening 70, while Saddier had three in four holes from the third.
Lagergren holds the course record on The K Club's Palmer South Course with a 63 at last year's Irish Challenge and looked set to threaten Darren Clarke's North Course record of 60 when he birdied the 16th, eagled the 18th with a well-judged right-to-left putt and birdied the second, fourth and fifth.
Another gain followed at the seventh while Saddier strung together three in a row from the 11th and also birdied the 16th.
Both players bogeyed their penultimate hole but Lagergren responded with a closing birdie at the ninth for a 62 and the outright lead.
He said: "I played really well, my putter was obviously really hot. Holed a lot of putts today - did yesterday as well, but didn't really have my A-game yesterday. Working with my coach yesterday afternoon and obviously found something.
"This course is really tricky, I can't really dream of shooting minus-10 at The K Club. I shot the course record on the other course, minus-nine, so I thought I did it on this course now but it was obviously minus-12, the course record - way off!
"But yeah, Ireland is treating me well."
Saddier has 13 birdies and only two dropped shots for his 36 holes to this point.
He said: "It was great. I was lucky enough to be paired with Padraig Harrington, so the crowd was really awesome. Nice atmosphere to play here and just try to have a good game with it.
"Some days the hole (seems) a lot bigger. Last weekend it was smaller. My putting is good, especially my pace, so I just try to keep the line I choose and try to roll it in."
The pair were five and four shots clear of the field respectively, though the name of McIlroy loomed large in a share of third.
The Masters Champion had six birdies in a blemish-free round which was almost even better as he threatened an albatross at the last.
McIlroy's 173-yard approach to the par-five pitched barely a foot from the pin, before spinning back eight feet to leave a tricky eagle putt which he was unable to hole.
"I was hitting a three-quarter eight-iron, I couldn't believe how far it came back!" he said. "It looked like I nearly flew it into the hole.
"It was good. I felt like I hit the ball pretty similarly to yesterday, maybe gave myself a few more chances with the approach shots. A couple of good par saves on the back nine and finished well with a couple of birdies on the last three holes.
"Overall, I'm really pleased with the day's work and it keeps me within touching distance going into the weekend. Obviously the two boys are a little bit ahead of the rest of the pack but I feel like I'm close enough, if I do have a good weekend, to chase them down."
McIlroy matched Daniel Hillier's morning round of 66, which featured six birdies, an eagle at the 18th and two bogeys, while Alfredo Garcia-Heredia went one better with a seven-under-par 65.
The Spaniard opened with an eagle at the tenth and though he dropped a shot at the 15th, he responded with three birdies in his next six holes and finished with three more in succession.
First-round co-leader Thorbjørn Olesen was the other member of the group on seven under after a 71, with nine players tied for seventh on six under.
