There's the golfing wilderness and then there's where Newcastle battler James Nitties has emerged from to snare the Australian Open halfway lead at Royal Sydney.
"I've been everywhere. It's been a pretty rough last three years," Nitties said after producing a spectacular homeward-nine 29 in a seven-under-par 65 on Friday to burst from the pack with the equal-low round.
"I lost my Web.com card last year, which I was on the for the last five years," the world No.732 said.
"Spent four years doing mini-tours and qualifiers in America so I suppose you could say I've been spending a lot of money."
So much money the 34-year-old had to sell up in the US, then give up his apartment in Dallas to his girlfriend so he could return home to stay with his mum and play pro-ams to keep his competitive juices flowing.
"You've been on the PGA Tour and you competed on the Web," Nitties said of the drive to keep going.
"My game hasn't really changed much but you're staying in hotels which have cockroaches running around.
"It's fine when you're a junior and when you just turn pro. It's exciting.
"As you get older and you experience more, it's a real battle.
"(But) for me it's just a way to compete. It's not a fun feeling but a lot of people have middle-class jobs and they have to work 60 hours a week.
"If I can just work really hard for four hours and get something out of it, it really changes the perspective that you have."
Nitties is nine under for the championship and one stroke ahead of New Zealander Ryan Fox, who recorded a second-straight 68.
US-based Lismore product Rhein Gibson had enjoyed the clubhouse lead all afternoon until Fox birdied the last hole, then Nitties leapfrogged the son of All Blacks legend Grant Fox with an even more impressive finishing flurry.
Adam Scott is lurking ominously three shots back in a five-way share of fourth place after carding a seven-birdie, one-eagle 65 in the perfect morning scoring conditions to match Nitties' career round.
The former world No.1 has company at six under with first-round co-leader Curtis Luck, the steely 20-year-old amateur who recovered from four dropped shots mid-round to shoot a respectable 71.
In-form veteran Rod Pampling (67), big-hitting Todd Sinnott (68) and exciting 20-year-old Lucas Herbert (71) are also at six under.
Two-time major champion Jordan Spieth is well poised a further shot back after a round of 70 undermined by a double bogey on the par-four 15th hole.
"Really, it was just the putter that needs improvement. I'm still in it feeling like I've been brainless on the greens," Spieth said.
"Normally (it's) a stronghold of mine, so I can take that as confidence because I believe that it'll be there once the weekend comes around."
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