Scotland’s Craig Lee thanked his brother and Santa Claus after soaring to the joint lead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
Lee, 36, set the clubhouse target on nine under par after adding a 67 to his opening 68 before being joined on that halfway total by Rafael Cabrera-Bello.
The Scot is looking for his first European Tour win after losing out to Thomas Bjorn in a play-off for the Omega European Masters last September, and joked that Father Christmas had left him the gift all golfers want.
“I think Santa has brought me a good putting stroke for Christmas,” Lee said.
“Coming in from the winter, you never know just how rusty you are going to feel or how your game is going to be. I did hit a few loose shots here and there but I managed to get by holing a few good putts.
“My brother installed an Astro Turf putting green in my front garden at the end of last year and that’s made a difference as I’ve been able to keep putting every day. It’s 20 feet by 14 feet and the neighbours have been peering over the fence.”
Rory McIlroy is just two shots back and the resurgent Northern Irishman had Open champion Phil Mickelson reaching for the superlatives after storming into contention.
Mickelson had a front-row seat as McIlroy covered the back nine in 31 for a round of 67 which left him seven under par.
“The back nine was really impressive, a beautiful nine holes of golf,” said five-time major winner Mickelson, who returned a 70 to lie one under
Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren are three under, Stephen Gallacher one under and Fifer Peter Whiteford level par. Chris Doak, Jamie McLeary and Paul Lawrie all missed the cut.