Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat carded a second round of 69 to take the clubhouse lead in increasingly windy conditions at the Shenzhen International on Friday.
Aphibarnrat, whose sole European Tour title to date came in the Maybank Malaysian Open in 2013, recorded five birdies and two bogeys at Genzon Golf Club to finish eight under par.
That gave the 25-year-old a two-shot lead over Argentina's Emiliano Grillo, who birdied six of his last 10 holes for a 67, France's Gregory Havret, England's Matt Ford and South African Darren Fichardt.
Ford had been eight under par until bogeys on the 14th and 16th, while Fichardt also suffered from a poor finish following a hat-trick of bogeys from the 14th.
Aphibarnrat, who finished sixth in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill last month, told europeantour.com: "It was a great round. Again, the wind was getting up on a few holes before I finished, but the way I was striking the ball is still very good.
"When I go out worldwide, I learn a lot of experience and I saw many top players play. Even this week, we have Bubba Watson around. So it's been helping Asian players to keep improving when we see all the star players, how they are playing the shots, and I just adapt it to my golf game and it's improving."
Two-time Masters champion Watson was among the later starters and bogeys at the third and fifth dropped him back to level par for the tournament, with the halfway cut predicted to fall at two over.
Italy's Edoardo Molinari had earlier been disqualified for signing for an incorrect score in his opening 75, the former Ryder Cup player failing to include an unusual penalty incurred by his caddie.
Molinari wrote on Twitter: " Got DQ because my caddy jumped on a buggy between the 9th and the 10th hole yesterday. I didn't see him unfortunately as I was 20 yds ahead.
" It would have been a two stroke penalty had I found out yesterday, DQ because I signed for the wrong card (which didn't include the penalty)."
Source: PA
