Tasmanian Simon Hawkes has continued his best month as a professional golfer, grabbing the halfway lead at the NZ PGA championship at Palmerston North.
Hawkes, 29, fired an eventful seven-under-par 64 on Friday to grab the lead, carding four birdies in his first seven holes. A topsy-turvy back nine included three birdies, two bogeys and an eagle at the par-5 14th.
"For us in the afternoon, it was a little less windy than we had yesterday morning so it did make the course feel a little bit easier. I just tried to do the same thing I did yesterday and I just happened to go one better," said Hawkes.
"I'm really comfortable on the greens here."
Earlier this month, the previously unheralded Hawkes turned his career around by winning the Vic Open in a playoff at 13th Beach, pocketing a life-changing winner's purse of $117,000.
After two rounds at Manawatu Golf Club, Hawkes was at 13-under 129, a shot clear of first-round leader Ben Campbell from New Zealand.
"Ben has been great to play with over the last two days. It's always good to be playing with someone who is in form as well," said Hawkes.
"It just pushes the vibe of the group up if everybody's making birdies - you get dragged along.
"I just happened to hole a couple more than he did today and it could go the other way tomorrow."
New Zealander David Smail's bogey-free seven-under 64 boosted him into a share of third place with Australians Deyen Lawson, Jack Munro, Jordan Zunic and Matthew Millar.
They trailed Campbell, who finished runner-up at both the NZ PGA Championship and the New Zealand Open last year, by three strokes.
Hawkes is not fazed about upsetting the local crowds if claims the title from a New Zealander.
"It's not going to bother me. I'm just going to stick to what I've been doing the last two days and, hopefully, that's good enough," said Hawkes.
Campbell headed straight to the range after his round to iron out some swing issues before the weekend.
"I started off really nicely; I was four under through nine and was playing really well," said Campbell, whose scorecard featured six birdies and a bogey.
"I just kind of lost my swing a little bit there but I knew exactly what it was. I'll go do a little practice now."
