Currently a part-time golfer working full-time in Supply Purchasing for Glencore’s Oaky Creek Coal in central Queensland, Smith followed up a round of four-under 66 on Thursday with a three-under 67 on day two to move one stroke clear at seven-under par.

There is a three-way tie for second at six-under par as defending champion Aaron Pike and two-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Rhein Gibson played their way into tournament contention with matching four-under 66s.

A scholarship holder at Cypress Lakes as a teenager, it is 10 years since Smith won the Jack Newton Celebrity Classic at the course.

He called upon all of that experience to successfully navigate his way to the top of the leaderboard.

Smith is one clear of Round 1 co-leader Jack Munro (70), New Zealand’s Hanee Song (67) and Victorian Peter Wilson (66) and playing with the freedom of a man who has a job to return to on Monday.

“I can come and play golf and shoot eight-over tomorrow and it’s not going to change my attitude now,” said Smith. “It’s either eight-over or eight-under, it doesn’t bother me no more.

“Ten years ago it did whereas now it doesn’t.”

Babysitting the family dogs Oscar and Boris as his parents travel to the NSW South Coast town of Huskisson to watch his brother Chris compete in an ironman triathlon, Smith once again has aspirations to return to golf permanently.

A change in roster provided Smith the opportunity to return to the game, his performances through two days vindicating his belief that at 33 he can return to the tour.

“I know my best is still good enough and it’s just a matter of doing it,” added Smith, who has aspirations to return to the Asian Tour.

“I could come out the next couple of days and play like a busted arse but I’ve got that desire to play back again.

“I’m only 33. I’m as fit as I’ve ever been… I don’t know what the next two or three years hold for me, I’ve got no idea.”

As Smith ponders a return to tournament golf, Munro has been considering a switch the opposite way.

He made a spectacular up and down from the back of the 11th green on Friday and, unlike recent tournaments, turned a scrappy day of ball-striking into an even-par 70.

“I hit it terrible on the range and I didn’t feel that good out there. Just scrapped it round really,” Munro conceded.

“It’s good to keep it under control because the last few weeks I’ve been letting it get out of control. I held it together.”

After returning from the US and Thailand respectively, Gibson and Pike re-established their claims as pre-tournament fancies.

A winner on the Korn Ferry Tour two weeks ago, Gibson went bogey-free in his second sighting of Cypress Lakes and sounded an ominous warning as to what may follow over the final two rounds.

“This round gets me back in it,” the 37-year-old declared.

“I’m still going to be quite a way back going into tomorrow but I know I’ve got a low one in me.

“Every chance I get to play I feel better and better on the golf course.”

As double bogeys threaten at every turn, Wilson has recorded just the one bogey in his first 36 holes, thriving on a golf course that yields far fewer birdies than recent tournaments on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia.

“It’s not a birdie golf course,” Wilson said.

“Every event so far, I’ve been afternoon for my first tee time and someone’s already shot nine or 10-under so then you’re pressing off the go.

“Bonnie Doon, Rosebud, Vic Open, it’s all 20-something under par so it’s nice to come to a golf course where it’s not that.”

There are 21 players within four shots of the lead through two rounds, Brisbane’s Doug Klein producing the round of the day with a five-under 65.

TPS Hunter Valley expands on Saturday to incorporate both the TPS Junior Players Series Hunter Valley and the All Abilities Players Series Hunter Valley.