Aussie in front but Kiwis stay close
New Zealanders Ben Campbell and Michael Hendry are right in the hunt at the midway stage of the New Zealand Open in Arrowtown.
With their eyes firmly set on becoming the first Kiwi winner since 2003, the pair are hot on the heels of Australian leader Brad Kennedy.
Overnight leader Campbell fired a five-under-par 67 at The Hills yesterday to go with his scorching 10-under-par 61 the previous day at Millbrook, and will go into the weekend a shot behind Kennedy.
Hendry, who opened with a seven-under-par 65 at The Hills, is a further two shots back in outright third place. He finished his second round 13-under the card after banking a second-round 65 at Millbrook.
But it was Kennedy who fired the round of the day to pip Campbell for the lead at the halfway mark of the $1 million tournament.
In perfect conditions, the 2011 champion produced a scintillating nine-under par 62 at Millbrook to go with the 65 he shot at The Hills.
‘‘It was awesome. It’s nice to play like that,’’ Kennedy said. Despite the frigid morning conditions, he mixed four birdies with a bogey on the front nine, before firing down the stretch and carding birdies on six of the final seven holes.
‘‘It was funny, I didn’t actually play those holes on the practice round,’’ Kennedy said. ‘‘I only played 10 holes [at Millbrook] and I had 13 holes at The Hills.
‘‘That can sometimes work in your favour. You’re a bit unsettled and you focus in a bit more.’’
Kennedy is one of five Australians to win the NZ Open since 2011 – there was no tournament in 2013 – having had his name etched on the Brodie Breeze Trophy after coming out on top at Christchurch’s Clearwater course six years ago.
While his round was littered with shots out of the top draw, his shot off the tee on the 203m parthree 13th was the best of the lot, as it rolled to within 30cm from the cup.
Campbell couldn’t match his tournament best 10-under par opening round, but was content with his position ahead of the final two rounds.
The 25-year-old Queenstownbased player found the greens at The Hills ‘‘quite tricky’’ and was looking forward to the prospect of returning to Millbrook for the final two rounds.
‘‘It will be good to be back [at Millbrook]. I struggled a little bit with the greens at [The Hills], they were a bit firmer. So I’m looking forward to getting back here and trying to attack a few more flags,’’ Campbell said.
Like Kennedy, Hendry also got hot down the stretch.
Playing in the same group as the Australian, he fed off Kennedy’s hot streak to birdie four of the last five holes and steam up the leaderboard.
‘‘I putted really well, to be honest,’’ Hendry said. ‘‘I didn’t feel like I hit it as well as I could have – there were a few iffy ones that put a little bit of pressure on me – but I managed to save par on those poor ones.
‘‘Brad was incredible today. As soon as he had a shot inside 130m, he would hit it within 10 feet and I just started writing scores down as soon as he hit it on the green.
‘‘Towards the end it just looked like he was never going to miss.’’
Top-ranked Kiwi Ryan Fox flirted with the projected cut for much of his second round at Millbrook but scraped through to live another couple of days.