Raphael Jacquelin repeated his feat of three weeks ago by shooting a course-record 62 to take a two-stroke lead after the first round of the BMW International today.
The Frenchman's 10-under-par return equalled the Nord Eichenried course record and matched his opening 62 in the Nordic Open in Copenhagen.
Jacquelin, yet to win on the full tour, eventually slipped back to finish to 25th in Denmark but 10 birdies today have renewed his hope for a maiden victory.
He is two shots ahead of Thomas Bjorn of Denmark, Marcel Siem of Germany and British duo David Howell and Gary Emerson.
Bjorn is well placed again in a tournament he won in 2000 and 2002. After his recent near-misses in the British and Irish Opens, where he finished runner-up in both, Bjorn was happy to be in contention again.
A brush-up on his swing with occasional coach Simon Holmes did the trick again as he birdied eight of the last 10 holes.
"I've only ever had two lessons in my life before with Simon, here, in 2000 and 2002," he said.
Former winner Robert Karlsson of Sweden and Britons Lee Westwood and Paul Casey are three strokes off the lead but on a low-scoring day, world number two and European number one Ernie Els had to settle for a 68 to lie six strokes behind the leader.
Another tournament favourite, John Daly, the 2001 winner at Nord Eichenried, trails by 10 strokes.
Three Irishmen, Paul McGinley, Peter Lawrie and Graeme McDowell, were all bunched together on three under following opening 69's.
Further down the field Gary Murphy could only manage a level par 72 while Damian McGrane carded a disappointing 75.