Out in the afternoon, Gale got his second round at Palmerston Golf and Country Club off to the perfect start with a birdie at the par-4 opener. He added another shortly thereafter at the short par-4 fifth hole to reach 8-under for the tournament.

With the best of the morning field in Andrew Kelly and Matthew Stieger back at the clubhouse on 7-under, Gale clearly had desires to run further away from the chasing pack. The Sydneysider parred his way in to close out a 2-under front nine as others started to find birdies in the Palmerston heat.

It was three more pars to start the back nine for Gale, who then sent a warning shot through the field after making an eagle three at the par-5 13th.

That saw him rise to 10-under before another run of pars was ended at the 18th with a bogey five.

His fellow New South Welshman Townsend had a more colourful scorecard on day two.

Townsend’s round began from the 10th tee in roller-coaster fashion, going bogey-birdie-bogey before his scoring started to settle into a more comfortable rhythm.

Back-to-back birdies at the 15th and 16th were followed by another at 18 to turn in 2-under, with the 42-year-old adding three more late on the front nine, his back nine, to sign for a 5-under 66 and solo second.

Chris Crabtree followed up his first round 67 with a 68 to join Kelly and Stieger on 7-under, the trio sharing third in front of a five-strong group at 6-under.

Meanwhile the round of the day, and week so far, belonged to Queenslander Chris Wood who authored a remarkable 11-shot improvement from Thursday to Friday.

Playing in a trio of Queenslanders with Brett Rankin and Jake McLeod, who both sit at 5-under for the tournament, Wood made nine birdies against two bogeys in a second round 64 that moved him from missing the cut that fell at even par to a share of 19th at 3-under.

But for a second straight day, everyone is chasing Gale, who with just two bogeys against his name for the week could heat up like the Northern Territory weather and find more birdies, just as he did recently when firing a 60 to Monday qualify for the PGA Tour’s 3M Open for a second straight year.

Yet with 17 players within five shots of the lead, and low scores like Wood’s on offer, the race for the crocodile-head trophy for 2023 is still very much alive.

Round 2 scores

Round 3 draw

Photo: Taylah Somerville Photography