New Zealand’s Hodge, and Queenslander Florimo are tied at 11-under-par, with Hodge looking to make it back-to-back Tour wins after breaking through at the Wallace Development New Zealand PGA Championship just two weeks ago.

Order of Merit leader Elvis Smylie plugged away today for a 2-under-par 70, and is still very much in the hunt for a third title this season, just five shots from the lead. The Queenslander also triumphed in his battle with OOM No.2 Ryan Peake, who failed to make it to the weekend play.

Smylie’s coronation as the new OOM champion will come on Sunday afternoon.

Four players are tied for third at 10-under, including overnight leader Jack Munro, young Sydneysider Harrison Crowe, Victorian Nathan Page, and 2023 PNG Open winner Lachlan Barker.

A larger group of six players are a further shot back at 9-under, amongst them 2021 WA PGA champion Jay McKenzie, who has struggled this season but has taken a liking to the St. John course, opening with 68-67.

Hodge’s 7-under 65 on Friday morning proved to be one of the rounds of the day, made all the more remarkable by the fact he is battling a suspected chest infection, distancing himself from playing partners Phoenix Campbell and Josh Geary for much of the second round.

The solitude seemed to agree with the Kiwi who rolled in seven birdies and recorded no dropped shots on his way to the top of the leaderboard.

“It was pretty good out there today. I didn’t quite have my best swing but kind of just got it round I suppose,” Hodge said.

It was also a Friday 65 for Florimo. However with two bogeys on the card, the burly Queenslander made his shots up in more dramatic fashion.

The 25-year-old produced an eagle-par-par-birdie run home to break out of the logjam now below him.

“I hit it right of the green with the second shot (on the par-5 15th). I’ve got a seven wood in the bag this week which I’m sort of playing around with, and I left myself in a bit of an awkward spot but hit a nice chip that sort of dribbled in the front edge,” Florimo said of his late eagle.

Like Hodge, Florimo says his game isn’t exactly where he would like it to be, but a new-found confidence around the greens has proved transformational.

“I’m sort of not 100% tee to green but really taking advantage around the green so that’s nice,” he said.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, the two men at the top were both been searching for that elusive first professional win, however with Hodge already proving himself at Hastings, Florimo will go into the weekend the underdog.

Despite his recent success, Hodge was candid in his winning press conference two weeks ago, revealing that he and his fiancé have been having serious thoughts about giving playing professional golf away, a decision that will only get harder if he were to have another good weekend.

“I mean there’s still going to be some discussions, I don’t know, it might be an even bigger spanner in what the plans were,” Hodge said.

“It’s always good to play well though. Hopefully I can finish it off and we’ll go from there.”

Although the underdog, Florimo has amassed some strong results this year, a share of third at Webex Players Series Sydney the highlight of three top-10s.

“It’s felt really close all year,” he said.

“Me and my team are really just waiting for the next step I suppose.

“I keep putting myself in position so hopefully we can get one done this weekend.”

The Heritage Classic is live on Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo.

*All times AEDT.

Round 3:  Saturday 3pm-6pm (Fox Sports 503/Kayo)Final Round:  Sunday 1pm-6pm (Fox Sports 503/Kayo)