Retief Goosen fired a flawless six-under-par 65 in the Lancome Trophy second round on Friday to surge four strokes clear of the field.
The South African nearly matched his blistering first day run on the front nine at St-Nom-la-Breteche when he ran up an eagle-two and three birdies to be out in 31, just a stroke worse than Thursday's effort that put him on course for a 63.
A quieter back nine with only one birdie left him on 14-under-par 128, four strokes ahead of Spain's Carlos Rodiles and Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium, who both carded 66s in search of their maiden tour wins.
Goosen's 105-yard wedge-shot for a two at the par-four fifth launched his bid for a second Lancome Trophy, his fourth French success and first title of the year, and the 2001 U.S. Open winner is happy to be setting the pace.
"I don't find it hard to stay in front and I've won pretty well all my tournaments from the front, including the U.S. Open," said Goosen.
"The round had got off to a pretty slow start but then on five I hit a soft gap-wedge, it landed a yard and a half behind the hole and spun in.
A $320,000 first prize this week would help Goosen's slim chances of a third successive European order of merit, but he lies $1.8 million behind leader Ernie Els with seven events left after Versailles.
"I pretty much need to win everything in sight and for Ernie to play poorly to go past him," added Goosen.
"I don't think I have a chance but there are plenty of big events to come so I'm going to keep trying."
Rodiles, the day after holing-in-one, fired his third successive 66 in the event after closing with a 66 last year to finish second.
The second-placed pair are a stroke better than Ireland's Paul McGinley. Swede Mikael Lundberg triple-bogeyed the last to fall six off the lead.
Europe's top world-ranked player, ninth-placed Padraig Harrington, also enjoyed his opening half playing alongside Goosen, out in 32, but the Irishman faded coming home to shoot a 68 and finish eight strokes adrift of the leader.
While British Open winner Ben Curtis just made the cut on the mark of 141 with a 72, former European number one Lee Westwood, who won for the first time nearly three years at the BMW International Open two weeks ago, bogeyed the last to miss out by a stroke.
Briton Murray Urquart, who had missed all 12 of his previous European Tour cuts in his rookie year, matched Goosen's opening day 63 to move five-under for the tournament and put himself in line for a Rolex watch for best round of the week.