Dublin-based PGA assistants Stuart Taylor and Pat Devine fired a scorching second round to set up a £5,000 showdown in the SkyCaddie PGA Fourball Championship supported by Sunderland.
Yorkshire pair Adrian Ambler and Aran Wainwright had set the pace on day one at Forest Pines with a 13-under-par round of 60 to establish a four stroke lead in the £30,000 tournament.
But the Liverpool-born Taylor (The Island, Dublin) and Irishman Devine (Royal Dublin), who were eight-under after round one, responded to the challenge and eclipsed that by going one better with a brilliant 59.
Ambler (Walton Golf Centre) and Wainwright (Mid Yorkshire Golf Club) then followed up by carding nine-under-par to finish on 22-under and share the lead with Taylor and Devine.
Third-placed pair Andrew Sherborne (Kendleshire) and David Hutton (Hamptworth), who are four strokes adrift, will beg to differ but the stage is set for a winner-takes-all head-to-head between the joint leaders.
However, Ambler and Wainwright were in danger of not even having a share of pole position with four holes to go of their second round.
"We were four strokes behind but made up the difference with successive birdies," said a relieved Wainwright.
Earlier, Taylor and Devine had served notice of the golfing pyrotechnics to follow with a birdie on the par-four 396 yard first hole of the Forest leg of the Lincolnshire course.
Seven more followed in the bogey-free round of 14-under-par, as did three eagles, starting at the par-five 501 yard third.
"Stuart's eagle at the third got us started," said Devine, who contributed the other two. "We didn't look back after that although we had to get up and down at the 16th and 17th for our pars.
"We felt that everything was going for us and we could birdie every hole. Obviously we're delighted with how things went - now we've got to do it all again in the last round if we're to hold off Adrian and Aran. They've showed how dangerous they are in the first two rounds and will be hard to beat."
08 October, 2009