Australian golfers Aaron Townsend and Scott Strange share the halfway lead with Kiwi defending champion Michael Hendry at the New Zealand PGA Championship.
The trio sit at 10 under par after Friday’s second round, one stroke ahead of Australian Rohan Blizard and local hopes Gareth Paddison and Michael Long.
Playing in the morning field and teeing off the 10th hole, Strange got off to a hot start before eventually firing a sizzling seven-under 65.
“The whole front nine I pretty much could have birdied or eagled – I played it pretty nice,” said Strange.
“I shot it in six-under so I was pretty happy.”
First-round leader Townsend felt a lack of momentum but was happy to walk off the course having maintained his lofty position on the leaderboard.
“It wasn’t as easy as yesterday,” he said. “It was a bit flat out there today.
“(But) when you are in the lead after two rounds you have to take a bit of confidence from that but there is still a long way to go so I won’t get too excited.”
Playing later in the day, Hendry was also travelling nicely through his round before taking a double-bogey on the par-4 14th at The Hills.
The halfway cut was made at one under the card, with 12-times Japan Tour winner Brendan Jones and three-time US Open Champion Hale Irwin the major casualties.
However Irwin can still be seen in action on Saturday when he tees it up as a celebrity guest during the pro-am aspect of the tournament.