Conor Purcell will lead the Irish charge heading into the weekend at the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship after a strong back nine catapulted him from the cut line to the fringes of the top-20 in Royal Queensland Golf Club.
Purcell carded a second round of 67 to move to four-under-par and eight shots adrift of home favourite Min Woo Lee.
The Portmarnock man endured a mixed bag on his front nine which he bookended with pars. After a birdie, bogey run from the second to the fifth he posted back-to-back gains before giving a shot back on the eighth.
The 26-year-old who loves playing and practicing in Australia during the winter months settled down on the back nine with a brace of birdies on 11 and 12 before a birdie on 15 made it three in five. A bogey on 17 was cancelled out by a closing birdie as he moved into a share of 21st place.
For the second successive day, two late bogeys stalled Tom McKibbin who made the cut on the mark at level-par after a second round of 71 while there was disappointment for Mark Power who missed the cut on two-over after a birdieless round of 75.
Australian Lee will take a one shot lead into the weekend over compatriot Adam Scott after a five under 66.
The Australian, who is a two-time winner on the DP World Tour, quickly built on his opening round of 65 to set the pace in front of home crowds with four birdies in a flawless front-nine 32 in windy condition.
His first mistake came at the tenth but he recovered with two more gains at the 13th and 15th holes before requiring three par saves over the closing stretch to keep his nose in front at the mid-way stage and set up a third round pairing with Scott.
“Just hit a couple bad swings on the last three holes, but overall, really happy with the way I went,” Lee reflected after his round.
“Very solid and kept doing the right things. Today was a bit more shaky than yesterday, but felt like I’ve made up and down when I needed to.
“Yeah, again, you’ve got to be smart and aggressive when you can. So this course, sometimes it does make you play a bit more aggressive and that’s where it bites you. So it’s a course where you just have to play with your brain and just attack the pin from the right spots
“Yeah, every time I’m with Scotty, it’s good times and yeah, I’m going to be looking at his swing all day and chatting away, but yeah, he’s a good bloke and hopefully I can play some good rounds to finish”
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