Grant Forrest and Scott Jamieson launched a second day offensive in round two of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship to barge their way into the top-10 at the halfway stage in the Middle East.

While overnight leader Shane Lowry remained the man to catch after adding a battling 70 to his course-record equalling 62 for a one stroke advantage over the South African pairing of Louis Oosthuizen and Richard Sterne, Forrest and Jamieson had a 65 and a 66 respectively to surge up the order.

Craigielaw tour rookie Forrest, with two top-10s on the main circuit this season, bolstered his push with seven birdies in nine holes from the seventh to move to eight-under while Jamieson birdied four of his first five holes in a sprightly six-under card to finish a shot better off on nine-under.

At the head of affairs, Lowry recovered from a poor start to cement his place at the top of the pile in the £5.4million Rolex Series event.

The Irishman saw his three-shot overnight lead wiped out as he bogeyed the second and third, but the 31-year-old bounced back with birdies at the fifth, seventh, 12th and 15th to remain on course for his first win since the 2015 WGC Bridgestone Invitational.

“I’m really happy with that,” said Lowry who was sitting on the 12-under mark. “I knew today was going to be a bit of a weird day after shooting such a low score yesterday. I just tried to go out and play like I played.

“Some of the shots early on were pretty horrendous, so I battled back and hit some really nice shots out there and hit some in close and made some birdies. I was happy with myself.

Oosthuizen has finished no worse than seventh in his last three starts, a run which includes a first victory in his national Open in Johannesburg.

“It meant a lot to me,” Oosthuizen said after a 68 containing six birdies and two bogeys.

“It was one that I really wanted and always had scheduling problems to play it.

“It was always up against a big family holiday we have, and last year was the first time that I could actually play it in the last six, seven years, and I was delighted to win.”

Defending champion Tommy Fleetwood, who is seeking a third straight win in the event, birdied the 18th to make the cut on the mark of three-under-par.

“It was nice to get one in,” Fleetwood said after his 72. “My putting was pretty awful today. The things that I wanted to do better from yesterday, I did, but just a couple of short ones were missed and then I just holed nothing at any makeable range.”

Richie Ramsay posted a two-under 70 for a four-under tally while Oban rookie Robert MacIntyre made the cut on the limit after a 71.