Darren Clarke and Peter Lawrie are joint leaders of the Dunhill Championship at St Andrews on nine-under, following the second day of play.
Briton David Howell shares the lead with the Irishmen, with Gary Murphy a shot behind. Meanwhile, Padraig Harrington lies on three-under, Des Smyth on two-under and Paul McGinley on one-under.
A massive 21 players are separated by a mere three strokes at the halfway stage of the stg£3million championship. It was not so closely fought at one stage when Denmark's Soren Hansen led by three with four holes of his second round to play at Kingsbarns, one of the three courses being used for the 168-team celebrity pro-am.
But last year's Irish Open champion then triple-bogeyed the 200-yard 15th and bogeyed the next two to crash from 12 under par to seven under. That came just after Dutchman Maarten Lafeber, 10 under with a hole to go at Carnoustie, collapsed to potentially the most costly triple-bogey seven on the famous 18th since Jean van de Velde blew the 1999 Open.
So the day ended with Darren Clarke, David Howell and Peter Lawrie sharing top spot on the nine-under mark of 135 - Clarke despite having four putts for a bogey five on the 357-yard 18th at St Andrews.
Second on the European Order of Merit, Clarke drove to within 30 yards of the green, elected to use his putter but saw the ball roll back into the Valley of Sin. That was his ninth hole of the round and after also dropping a stroke on the second he came back with three birdies for a 68.
It was certainly a better recovery job than Colin Montgomerie managed after putting into the Road Bunker at the 17th. Having double-bogeyed there Montgomerie crashed to a 74 - 11 months ago he finished the tournament with a 63 on the same course - and at three over par a 10th missed cut of the year is a near-certainty. He lies joint 129th.
Howell and Lawrie both matched Clarke's round over at Kingsbarns. Howell also had six birdies and two bogeys to ignite hopes of improving on the richest pay-day of his career - stg£206,970 for third place in the same event two years ago.
The first prize is almost stg£500,000 and to Lawrie it must seem a mind-boggling amount. Last season the 29-year-old was competing on the "second division" Challenge Tour and his career earnings from the main circuit amounted to #12,550. He has made the step up look easy, however, with winnings already of more than stg£236,000 and in April he was in a play-off for the Spanish Open.