SHANGHAI — Lucas Bjerregaard sank seven birdies to card a 6-under 66 in the second round of the BMW Masters and open up a three-stroke lead on Friday.

The Dane trailed overnight leader Sergio Garcia for much of the day before surging into the lead with three birdies in his last four holes.

Garcia, meanwhile, ran into trouble on his back nine on a cold, blustery day at Lake Malaren Golf Club. He bogeyed No. 12 and hit into the water on No. 13 for a double bogey, falling four strokes back.

The Spaniard recovered to shoot a 71 and tie for second place at 9 under with Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee (68).

Ian Poulter (68), Paul Casey (69) and An Byeong-hun (71) were another stroke back in joint fourth, while Peter Uihlein (66) sank seven straight birdies to jump into a tie for seventh place at 7 under with Ross Fisher (71).

Bjerregaard has been closing in on a maiden victory on the European Tour over the past few months. He has four top-10 finishes since September, including a runner-up finish at the Hong Kong Open last month, when he was beaten by Justin Rose by one stroke.

It was a much better finish than he had at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa last December when he played in the final group on Sunday but collapsed with a 17-over 89 in the final round.

“It was nice in Hong Kong to prove to myself and prove to everyone else that I can still compete up there,” he said.