Sitting on a total of 10-under, Smylie and Higgins hold a two-shot advantage over Tom Power Horan who led for most of the day before the co-leaders surged past late Friday at Kalgoorlie Golf Course as they chase a first Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia.

Smylie’s second round was a case of more of the same, with his new putter that went into the bag in September helping him to four birdies on the par-5s having recorded three eagles on Thursday, while Higgins made his first bogey of Friday at the par-5 18^th to make it a tie at the top.

“I played really well. I felt like today was a bit more of a solid round,” Smylie said.

“I didn’t have as many bogeys and the time that I did make the bogeys that were just kind of soft. But yeah, lots of good stuff, especially coming in on the back nine.”

Making birdies in bunches in the middle of his round, including six in seven holes starting at the par-5 sixth, Higgins will count himself a little unlucky at the last, but with a new mindset will hope to continue his recent good play.

Hitting his tee shot right at 18, Higgins’ attempt to extricate himself from the red dirt and trees that border Kalgoorlie’s fairways found wood before a sprinkler stopped his approach getting closer.

“It’s been really solid. Today was really good. Holed a few longish birdie putts, and then just holed a lot of six footers for birdie as well, and a couple of nice par saves in there,” Higgins said.

Arriving in good form, with a recent adidas Pro-Am Series win to his name, the New South Wales North Coast product, who represented both his home state and Queensland as an amateur, knows good golf and his adjusted approach will put thoughts of other future employment to the back of his mind.

“I think for me at the moment, I’m just trying to really just take it as it comes and just trying not to make dumb decisions,” Higgins said.

“I usually try not to just miss it on the wrong side and stuff like that, so I’ve really just been trying to do that. So if I have a bogey or two, I’m not following it up with a lot. I’m trying to just get myself a chance of birdie and make a putt or two and then get myself back in the round.”

Achieving that so far this week, it will make an interesting contrast to Smylie, who is taking a more aggressive approach since joining the Ritchie Smith coaching stable almost 12 months ago.

“Obviously I’ve been out here for, I think this is my third full year playing on this Tour now. So I’ve also used what other guys do as well, how they play and how aggressive they play,” Smylie said.

“I’ve played with winners on this Tour before, and I think the one thing that I’ve noticed is I’m pulling out the more aggressive club and stepping up and hitting the right shot rather than the comfortable shot.”

Planning to continue taking on the course over the final 36 holes, Smylie, as well as Higgins, will have plenty of pursuers from the chasing pack headed by three-time Tour winner Power Horan.

Powered by improved ball striking and a chip-in birdie, the Victorian signed for an eight birdie, one eagle round of 65, that was the equal low round of the day and is one in front of overnight leader Kyle Michel, Lincoln Tighe, Jordan Doull, Jack Buchanan and amateur Abel Eduard.

Power Horan hoping to use what he has learned over the past two years playing the DP World and Asian Tours to his advantage as he chases a fourth win.

“I think you definitely learn a lot off the course with the travel and overseas … and then the golf, you’re obviously seeing some of the best players in the world this year on DP (World Tour), which was great to see and sort of realise what good is,” Power Horan said.

Of the group another shot in arrears, Tighe would like to repeat his Friday start when he birdied his first three holes during a 5-under 67 that could have been better had his wedge game behaved slightly better.

“Just a couple of weak sand wedge shots that I’ve made bogeys with both days, so that’s sort of killing me,” Tighe said.

Noting the difficulty of backing up a low round, it was a grinding day for Michel, whose driver that played a key role in taking the first round lead finding the red dirt more often than he would have liked in a 1-under 71.

“Kind of felt myself on the red dirt a fair bit and yeah, just scrambled around, made it sort of still hold my fair share of putts, but I kind of a lot of par putts today, so still hung in there,” Michel said.

Eight players sit at 6-under, including plenty with experience like Tour winners Brett Rankin and Cameron John, while the cut fell at 2-under, with former WA PGA champion Jarryd Felton making the weekend in remarkable fashion after a hole-in-one at the par-3 fourth hole brought him back inside the mark before finishing at 3-under.

The CKB WA PGA presented by TX Civil & Logistics is live on Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo. 

The Victorian making seven birdies on Thursday to move past Andrew Kelly, who led for much of the day. Kelly joined by Michel’s fellow afternoon players Cory Crawford and Charlie Robbins in equal second after 5-under 67s.

Starting on the 10^th tee, Michel got straight into his first start of the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia season with back-to-back birdies at the par-4 and par-5 next before he dropped his lone shot of the day at the par-3 13^th.

Michel resuming his birdie making at the 16^th and 18^th to turn in 3-under, before the 28-year-old birdied both front nine par-5s, as well as the par-4 fifth to sit atop the leaderboard.

The former amateur standout offering up a simple reason for his hot start.

“I just drove the ball really well. Just gave myself a lot of looks and seemed to roll in a few putts,” Michel said.

“I didn’t really find myself in much trouble, mainly on the fairway all day. That’s kind of the secret around here. You can give yourself some looks if you can do that.”

Finishing last season with a share of eighth at The National Tournament, Michel has kept his competitive edge sharp with events on the adidas Pro-Am Series and two Asian Development Tour starts.

The Shepparton product sharing 16^th in Vietnam last month ahead of a busy stretch leading into Christmas as the season gets underway in earnest.

“Pro-Ams are great to keep your game sharp and everything, but you want to be playing the bigger events and I think everyone gets excited for the five or six month stretch from October through to March,” Michel said.

“Play a lot of golf and you feel like you can gain a bit of momentum if you’re playing well.”

For Kelly his first round was a mix of experience and the continuation of recent form on the Pro-Am circuit and at the World Sand Greens Championship in Binalong, where he shared runner-up honours after Brett Rankin pipped him in a play-off.

“I think it’s the experience. I looked at the book a little bit today, but I know most of the holes, none of the pin placements I’m not really familiar with,” Kelly said.

“I know most of the venues and that helps a lot.”

Unlike Kelly and Crawford, who notched two recent Pro-Am wins on the mid-north coast of New South Wales as he continues his return from a back injury, Robbins arrived in the West with less awareness of where his game might be.

The former contestant on Ninja Warrior spending more time cutting holes than playing them at Moonah Links before teeing it up at the WA PGA, where he tied for fifth last year.

“I think coming to somewhere where you’ve got good memories, really helped I think relax me knowing that I can do it if I just sort of let the golf take care of itself,” Robbins said.

“I haven’t been playing a whole lot of competition golf just the last month cause I’ve been working on ground staff, just dropped it back to a couple of days there so I can play a few more just club comps just to get some 18 hole rounds under my belt.”

Six players sit one back of Kelly, Crawford and Robbins, with Elvis Smylie’s more aggressive mindset helping him to reach the 4-under mark after three eagles in his 68 as he approaches almost a year of working with coach Ritchie Smith.

“I’ve taken on a bit more of an aggressive attitude, especially towards the par-5s,” Smylie said.

“I feel like if I don’t at least be aggressive on those and go for the eagles, then I’m kind of losing shots.”

The first winner of the season, PNG Open champion Will Bruyeres, one of four players a further shot adrift at 3-under, while Ben Eccles opened his title defence with a 1-under 71.

The CKB WA PGA presented by TX Civil & Logistics is live on Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo.