England’s Luke Joy fired a course-record 64 to join Gabriel Canizares atop the leaderboard heading into the final round of the MENA GolfTour’s American Express Dirab Golf Championship on Tuesday.

Starting the day, a good four shots behind, Joy rattled off one eagle and seven birdies, including five on the front nine, against a lone bogey to reach nine-under for the tournament along with joint overnight leader Gabriel Canizares of Spain, who carded a second round 70.

England’s Craig Hinton, who shared the opening day’s lead with Canizares, sits alone in second place a further shot adrift as Spain’s Mariano Ochoa and Thriston Arthur Lawrence of South Africa moved into a tie for the fourth at six-under, one shot ahead of England’s talented amateur James Allan.

It was Joy, a two-time winner on the MENA Golf Tour who made the biggest  charge of the day, putting himself in pole position for a shot at the title. A change of putter did the trick for the Englishman as he started with a great birdie at the first which kind of set the tone for his almost a flawless round.

England’s Luke Joy sets new course record on day two of the American Express Dirab Championship.

“Of all the seven birdies, the one on the first was quite pleasing as I holed a nice putt from 20 feet,” said Joy, who bettered the previous course record of a 66 jointly held by Pakistan Shafiq Masih, Craig Smith of Wales and Ian Keenan of “I think I need to replicate this performance in the final round if I were to go the full distance,” said the Englishman, who played the first two rounds in the company of Prince Khaled Saud Al Faisal.

“It was a privilege playing with prince, who is a very chilled-out guy,” said Joy, whose back nine were highlighted by an eagle on the par-five, 13th when he stuffed his approach to within 15 feet and sunk the ensuing putt.

Spain’s Canizares, who is a son of European Tour veteran Jose Maria, made a solid start, rolling in three birdies to make the turn at three under. He picked up another shot at the 14th, but a bogey each on the 14th and 18th prevented him from taking the solo lead.

England’s young prodigy James Allan carded a modest one-under 71 to stay in the lead in the amateur division, one ahead of his compatriot Elliott Oxlade who backed his opening 69 with a 71.

Mehdi Saissi returned a solid four-under 68 to take the sole possession of the lead in the MENA Division, upstaging fellow Moroccan and overnight leader Ayoub Lguirati, who a carded a second round 74 to slip one shot behind.

Othman Almulla shot a level-par 72 — a good seven shots better than its first-round score — to lead the Saudi challenge along with Ali Alsakha at seven over.

Elsewhere, Spain’s Carlos Balmaseda, who is MENA Golf Tour ambassador, shot a 64 to move to four under along with compatriots Xavier Puig and Sixto Casabona-navarro.

With five shots separating the top 10, the final day’s proceedings promise a thrilling fare when the leaders hit the home stretch.

Leading scores after second round (par 72):

9-under: Luke Joy (England) 71 64; Gabriel Canizares (Spain) 65 70

8-under: Craig Hinton (England) 65 71

6-under: Mariano Ochoa (Spain) 70 68; Thriston Arthur Lawrence (South Africa)

5-under: James Allan (England-AM) 68 71

4-under: Xavier Puig (Spain) 69 71; Sixto Casabona-navarro (Spain) 71 69; Elliott

Oxlade (England-AM) 69 71; Carlos Balmaseda (Spain) 73 67

2-under: Joe Heraty (England) 73 69; Chris McDonnell (England) 70 72; Fredrik

Lindblom (Sweden) 71 71

1-under: Shafiq Masih (Pakistan) 72 71; Ayoub Lguirati (Morocco) 69 74