Niall Kearney is eager to grasp the opportunity to secure his first European Tour title after opening up a two shot lead going into the weekend at the BMW International Open.
The Irishman carded 68 at Golfclub München Eichenried to get to 11-under par and lead a chasing pack that includes two Ryder Cup hopefuls Viktor Hovland and Bernd Wiesberger.
Kearney recorded his first Top 10 at the Canary Islands Championship last month, and after a trio of missed cuts, the 33-year-old is back on form as he makes his tournament debut in Munich.
"It's a great opportunity. This year has been great for me. I'm getting lots of starts in nice tournaments," said Kearney.
"I've got to try and take the opportunities as well. I got off to a decent start in Spain in the Canaries, I just need to march on from there."
Spaniard Jorge Campillo, Frenchman Adrien Saddier and Japan's Masahiro Kawamura are also amongst the group of players two shots off the lead at nine-under par, with South African Shaun Norris and another Spanish native in Pablo Larrazábal one shot further back.
Local hero Martin Kaymer, his fellow Major winner Louis Oosthuizen, and German amateur Matthias Schmid are among a group of nine players at seven-under par.
"The difference today was finally getting a little better sleep and the body starting to move a bit better," said Oosthuizen after his round.
"It got better during the round, I started hitting the ball a lot better. Hopefully by the weekend I'm feeling quite a bit better sleeping-wise."