Lucas Herbert extended his lead to four shots as Gary Hurley missed the cut in the ISPS HANDA Australian Open in Melbourne.
The Australian followed an opening eagle three at Kingston Heath with two birdies before recovering from a bogey at the tenth with three birdies in a row from the 13th to added a 66 to his opening 63 at Victoria Golf Club.
At 14-under-par the 2021 Irish Open champion leads by four shots from American Q-School graduate Ryggs Johnston, who shot 68 at Victoria, at halfway.
“Yeah, very happy,” Herbert said. “I thought it was funny, I played pretty good yesterday, just didn’t really putt that well and then felt like I putted really well today, scrambled really well and the rest of the game was sort of off.
“It was like two days of polar opposites to have good scores. So yeah, it was nice for my putting to turn up when I needed it.”
Six players were tied for third on nine-under — last week’s Australian PGA winner Elvis Smylie, American pair Harry Higgs and Jordan Gumberg, Finland’s Oliver Lindell, England’s Matt Southgate and Austria’s Lukas Nemecz.
But there was no joy for West Waterford favourite Hurley, who shot a one-under 71 at Kingston Heath and missed the two-under par cut by two strokes.
Hurley dropped an early shot at the fourth but while he birdied the seventh, 13th and 14th to get to one-under for the championship, he bogeyed the 15th and 16th before finishing with a birdie for his 71.
This week’s event incorporates three tournaments – the men’s and women’s Australian Opens and the Australian All Abilities Championship.
In the women’s event, Korean amateur Hyojin Yang carded a 71 at Kingston Heath to lead by a shot from compatriot Jiyai Shin and Australian’s Justice Bosio on nine-under.
Korea’s Simon Seungmin Lee holds a six-shot lead over world number one Kipp Popert of England heading into Saturday’s final round of the All Abilities event, .
Lee shot a five-under 67 to lead on six-under as Popert carded a 73.
Ireland’s Brendan Lawlor shot a second successive 77 to make the cut but he’s 16 shots behind Lee in fifth place on 10-over.