Thomas Pieters moved into a one-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Maybank Championship in Malaysia on Friday.
The Belgian hit an impressive 8-under-par second round, carding four birdies and a single bogey.
"I struggled off the tee early on -- at the end it was a lot better," Pieters said. "It didn't feel like a good day to me, I made the best of what I had.
"I gave myself a lot of chances but I couldn't seem to get the ball in the hole. I birdied the 16th, the par three, it was a nice putt."
Overnight co-leader Nacho Elvira opened up a four-stroke lead early on but dropped three shots in two holes to slip down to second place alongside Danny Masrin.
"Overall I'm happy," Elvira said. "I'm hitting the ball fine, I'm putting myself in position to find the pins and I'm looking forward to the weekend. The target every day is to cut the lead as much as I can."
South African Ernie Els is two strokes behind the leader in a seven-man group, including Dean Burmester, Lucas Herbert and Jazz Janewattananond.
