Overnight rain softened the pristine putting surfaces slightly and gave players the green light to be aggressive, Brady bursting out of the blocks with birdies at each of his first three holes.

He continued to accumulate red numbers with further birdies at six, eight, 12 and 15, a failure to get up and down from the front of the par-4 17th his only dropped shot of the day.

The 20-year-old got that back with an up-and-down at the par-5 18th, his two-round total of nine-under edging him one shots clear of overnight leader Deyen Lawson and Tom Power Horan (66).

Chris Wood (66) and Lincoln Tighe (67) both advanced their position in the morning wave to be tied for fourth at seven-under as the afternoon groups got their second rounds underway.

On Thursday the 210-metre par 3 opening hole was the second toughest on the golf course, playing 0.36 over par. On Friday morning it gave Brady the confidence that a low round was in the offing.

“The first hole, I’m sure the average is over par,” said Brady, who was runner-up to WA teammate Connor McKinney at the St Andrews Links Trophy earlier this year.

“I hit a great shot in there and rolled in the putt and I thought, I’m pretty happy with that.

“I rattled off two more in a row and had a couple more chances the next couple of holes and thought, It could be a low one today.“

New South Wales amateur Jeffrey Guan shot three-under 67 on Thursday morning to join New Zealand’s Denzel Ieremia (65) at six-under par.

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