Ensconced inside the top 10 late on day two at Castle Hill Country Club, Smyth gave his round on Friday an early injection of momentum by holing his 8-iron at the 155-metre par-3 11th.

A winner on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia as an amateur and with a single title to his name on the Asian Tour, Smyth delivered one of the tournament highlights at Royal Liverpool two years ago when he became the first player to ace the new par-3 17th, also in Round 2.

Asked post-round to tally up his total aces after this latest addition, Smyth started counting before he landed on, “I think it’s four. Yeah, it’s four in tournaments.”

Smyth’s latest ace led some in the clubhouse to reminisce on that perfect shot in golf’s most storied championship. Similarly to that occasion, Smyth lost the ball in flight and admitted his tee shot in Sydney was not always intended to be on such an aggressive line.

“I didn’t see it. I lost it completely,” Smyth conceded.

“It’s a tucked right pin. I was trying to hit it just a little bit past into the left, maybe about 10 feet left and went straight into the sun. I said to ‘Deano’ (caddie Dean Kinney), ‘Where is that?’

“He goes, ‘It’s right at it.’ And then it was like, one bounce, in.”

Happy with the achievement, Smyth noted the differences to his last ace in competition, given this one came just after 8am. He will need more low scoring over the weekend if he is to chase down clubhouse leader Nick Voke on 17-under through two rounds.

“There was no real extra adrenaline that I felt by the next shot. The Open Championship was a little bit different, but no, I felt fine,” Smyth added.

“If anything, it narrowed my focus even better. It felt like I could hole out more shots.

“I’m sitting on the fairway and I was saying to my caddie, it changed your mentality after actually holing one out. You feel like you can do exactly what you want the ball to do.”