Frenchman Gregory Bourdy, with only one top-10 finish in the past year, leads the Reale Seguros Open de Espana at the halfway stage in Seville.
A best-of-the-week 66, rounded off with four birdies in the last six holes, took the 30-year-old from Bordeaux to five under par after he had resumed down in 37th place.
In stark contrast, overnight leader Shaun Micheel managed only a 77, but that was still three better than Miguel Angel Jimenez.
The 48-year-old had never previously failed to break 80 in his national championship - and he made his debut back in 1988.
Scots Colin Montgomerie and Paul Lawrie were two more to miss the halfway cut, Lawrie's exit completing an unhappy week after he missed a flight connection and lost his luggage.
Bourdy is one in front of England's Simon Dyson and Robert Rock, 19-year-old Italian Matteo Manassero and Jorge Campillo - now the leading home hope on the 100th anniversary of the event's launch.
Despite the tough conditions - wind, dense rough and bumpy greens - the leader has not shot lower since last November.
"I've just been patient," Bourdy said. "I've not made a score like that for a long time in these conditions. It's good for the confidence."
Dyson finished his 69 with a 12-footer for eagle with his new belly putter.
"It appeared to bobble and I started walking, but it kept going and dropped," the Irish Open champion said.
"I switched because I've just not been holing out well. It's harder to get the pace, but I start it on the right line more consistently."
Manassero and Rock shot 70 and 72 respectively as they continued their bids for third European Tour wins.
Rock, who beat Tiger Woods and world top three Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood in Abu Dhabi in January, has returned this week from a five-week break.
He led after starting with a birdie, but mixed three bogeys with two more birdies after that.
Former USPGA champion Micheel would happily have taken that. There was a hat-trick of birdies from the 12th on his card, but also two double bogeys and three closing bogeys as he fell five behind.
Former French Open champion Graeme Storm had not dropped a shot all day until he came to his last two holes, but bogeyed them both to be two behind Bourdy and alongside fellow Englishman Danny Willett and Italy's Francesco Molinari.
Collated second round scores & totals in the European Tour Reale Seguros Open de Espana, Real Club de Golf de Sevilla, Seville, Spain
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
139 Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 73 66
140 Robert Rock 68 72, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 68 72, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 70 70, Simon Dyson 71 69
141 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 71 70, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 70 71, Danny Willett 68 73, Graeme Storm 70 71
142 Gary Orr 70 72, James Kingston (Rsa) 74 68, Matthew Baldwin 69 73, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 73 69
143 Sam Hutsby 70 73, Marcel Siem (Ger) 71 72, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 70 73, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 75 68, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 71 72
144 Richard Bland 73 71, Richie Ramsay 73 71, Shaun Micheel (USA) 67 77, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 72 72, Peter Lawrie 71 73
145 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 73 72, Chris Wood 72 73, Jack Hiluta 72 73, Anders Hansen (Den) 72 73, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 73 72, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 72 73, Lee Slattery 74 71
146 Phillip Price 73 73, Kenneth Ferrie 72 74, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 76 70, Marc Warren 72 74, Raul Quiros (Spa) 73 73, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 74 72, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 73 73, Simon Thornton 73 73, Gregory Havret (Fra) 72 74
147 Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 74 73, Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 72 75, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 71 76, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 73 74, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 75 72, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 75 72, Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 75 72, Markus Brier (Aut) 74 73, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 73 74, Bradley Dredge 72 75, Craig Lee 71 76, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 73 74, Alex Haindl (Rsa) 72 75, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 71 76, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 75 72, James Morrison 71 76, Romain Wattel (Fra) 73 74, Borja Etchart (Spa) 73 74, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 74 73
148 George Murray 74 74, Gareth Maybin 73 75, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 74 74, Johan Edfors (Swe) 74 74, Andy Sullivan 73 75, Mark F Haastrup (Den) 75 73, Richard Green (Aus) 76 72, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 76 72, Manuel Quiros (Spa) 76 72, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 74 74
Missed the cut:
149 Gary Boyd 73 76, Ross Fisher 76 73, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 75 74, Joost Luiten (Ned) 75 74, Rhys Davies 74 75, Sam Little 73 76, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 73 76
150 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 77 73, Damien McGrane 75 75, Robert Coles 77 73, Ricardo Santos (Por) 74 76, Matthew Zions (Aus) 74 76, Simon Khan 74 76, Anthony Wall 76 74, Carl Suneson (Spa) 77 73, Jordi Garcia (Spa) 75 75, Alexander Noren (Swe) 75 75, Rich Beem (USA) 78 72, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 75 75, Thomas Levet (Fra) 76 74
151 Jamie Moul 73 78, Jordi garcia Pinto (Spa) 76 75, Richard McEvoy 79 72, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa) 74 77, Jesus Legarrea (Spa) 75 76, Warren Abery (Rsa) 72 79, David Lynn 73 78, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 77 74, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 71 80, Daniel Denison 74 77, Tommy Fleetwood 80 71, Richard Finch 75 76, Mark Foster 75 76, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 73 78, Pablo Martin (Spa) 75 76
152 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 74 78, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 75 77, Peter Whiteford 74 78, Matthew Nixon 77 75, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 78 74, Lloyd Kennedy 74 78, George Coetzee (Rsa) 76 76, Carlos Pigem (Spa) 75 77, Wil Besseling (Ned) 75 77, Shane Lowry 77 75, Santiago Luna (Spa) 77 75
153 Thomas Norret (Den) 72 81, David Dixon 75 78, Paul Lawrie 78 75, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 80 73, Colin Montgomerie 76 77, Antonio Hortal (Spa) 78 75, Scott Pinckney (USA) 80 73, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 72 81, Michael Hoey 75 78
154 Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 78 76, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 79 75, Edouard Dubois (Fra) 79 75, Tom Lewis 77 77, Julien Quesne (Fra) 81 73, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 77 77, Eduardo De La Riva (Spa) 81 73, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 73 81
155 Estanislao Goya (Arg) 77 78, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 75 80, Augustin Domingo (Spa) 72 83, Alberto Fernandez (Spa) 76 79, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 77 78, Scott Jamieson 78 77
156 Juan francisco Sarasti (Spa) 81 75, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 78 78, Knut Borsheim (Nor) 79 77, Steven O'Hara 76 80
157 Richard S Johnson (Swe) 76 81, Adrien Bernadet (Fra) 81 76, David Horsey 80 77, Oscar Floren (Swe) 82 75
158 Xavi Puig (Spa) 75 83, Domenico Geminiani (Ita) 81 77, Pedro Oriol (Spa) 80 78
159 Pablo Menjibar (Spa) 80 79, Federico Colombo (Ita) 78 81
160 Ignacio Elvira mijares (Spa) 79 81
162 Marcos Pastor (Spa) 83 79
164 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 83 81
WD: 73 Soren Hansen (Den), 77 Stephen Gallacher
RTD: 81 Oliver Fisher
