Practice made perfect for Paul Lawrie as he rolled back the years to put himself in pole position for a third victory in the Qatar Masters.
Lawrie's first win in Qatar came in 1999, the same year as his British Open triumph at Carnoustie, with the second in 2012 helping him secure a Ryder Cup return after an absence of 13 years.
The 47-year-old also won the Johnnie Walker Championship in 2012 and although he has not tasted victory on the European Tour since, a second round of 66 at Doha Golf Club gave him the clubhouse lead on 11 under par, two shots ahead of France's Gregory Bourdy and England's Andrew Johnston.
A putting tip from fellow Scot Marc Warren after missing the cut in Abu Dhabi last week proved crucial, Lawrie adding: "He said the same as everyone else; my putting stroke is too long, it needs to be a little shorter and a little quicker. So I've been working on it the last couple days and certainly feels as though I've got it.
"I hit a lot of putts when I missed the cut last week. All day Sunday I did a lot of work and then came here and I've hit thousands of putts since I got here. So it's only taken a couple days and it feels comfortable."
Johnston recovered from a double bogey on the third to card a 69, while Bourdy's 68 featured a hole-in-one on the eighth, the first in the history of the event.
"It's always nice to get a hole-in-one," said Bourdy, who holed out with a six iron from 183 yards. "It's my third on Tour and it's great actually. I missed a few birdies before the eighth and then straight in with a six iron, so it was like two birdies straight."
Former champion Sergio Garcia, Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen and Sweden's Pelle Edberg were a shot further back on eight under, with Garcia adding a 66 to his opening 70 despite again missing a number of good birdie chances.
Australia's Brett Rumford is four shots off the pace at seven-under par after carding a three-under par 69.
Nathan Holman and Marcus Fraser (both three under) and Andrew Dodt (one under) all made the cut.
Scott Hend and Wade Ormsby finished one over and missed the cut.
