A Tour-quality field will contend for the $60,000 in prize money on Friday with Wood’s 12-under total one clear of both Brett Rankin (66) and Kyle Michel (67).

Backing up from a 7-under 65 on day one, Wood was 9-under after just one hole on Thursday thanks to an eagle at the par-5 first.

A string of six pars was followed with a birdie on eight and bogey on nine, birdies at 12, 14 and 18 giving him a round of 5-under 67 and the narrowest of leads going into the final round.

“Obviously it’s nice to be on top,” said Wood, the 2020 Victorian PGA champion.

“To be honest, I haven’t been playing a lot of golf lately. I didn’t go out west and play, so I sort of just had a bit of time off, which I felt I needed after such a busy season last year.

“To be up the top of the leaderboard with not much competitive golf under my belt is nice.”

Rankin made his move up the leaderboard early in Round 2, picking up five birdies in the space of seven holes to turn in 5-under 31.

After a bogey on 11 he hit back with birdies at 13 and 14 to play his way into the final group with Wood.

Conceding he was not at his best, Wood said it was his patient approach that enabled him to keep his nose in front.

“I didn’t really feel like I had my A game today, but I just knew that there was plenty of birdies out there,” he added.

“I just tried to give myself as many chances as possible and managed to sneak in a few more coming home.

“Eagle on the first was nice and then to be honest, it was pretty boring after that.

“I had about probably six or seven pars in a row. Had a lot of opportunities, didn’t really convert and then made a birdie on eight, which was nice but then gave it back the very next hole.

“Then really just tried to stay patient out there.”

Round 2 leaderboard

With $60,000 in prize money on offer a Tour-quality field took to the Rockhampton Golf Club layout on Wednesday, Wood edging one clear with a brilliant round of 7-under 65.

Victorian Kyle Michel (66) is Wood’s closest challenger, the pair both taking full advantage of ideal scoring conditions in the morning wave to set the early tone.

Wood began with a birdie on his opening hole – the par-4 10th – only to give it straight back with bogey at the tough par-3 11th.

It would be his only step backward all day, making five birdies in the space of seven holes around the turn before moving to the top of the leaderboard with a final birdie at the par-3 ninth.

“The birdie on nine was a bit of a bonus,” Wood conceded.

“I holed a putt from about 17 feet just off the right-hand side of the green there, putting up the hill.

“The goal was honestly just to two-putt and get out of there, but to see that drop was quite nice.”

A regular at Rockhampton, the 2020 Victorian PGA champion said he has adopted a different strategy to avoid making some of the same mistakes of the past.

“I’ll just go out there with the same mindset of playing aggressively smart,” he added.

“I’ve kept driver in the bag a little bit this week on a few holes just from previous history.

“I always find I hit it in the same trouble spots as previous years so just trying to eliminate some of the mistakes.

“I know there’s plenty of birdies out there, so just to try and stay patient and add them up at the end.”

There is just two shots separating the top 10 on the leaderboard after Round 1 with Matt Millar, Brett Rankin and James Marchesani among the eight players in a tie for third at 5-under par.

Round 2 begins at 6:50am Thursday morning.

Round 1 scores

Married for eight months, Boyd and Vasquez have been prominent on the Pro-Am circuit leaderboards throughout the Queensland swing, Vasquez the first woman to win a Pro-Am Series event in five years at Biloela last Saturday.

A Bowen Pro-Am victory is among Boyd’s seven top-five finishes dating back to late May and makes him one of the leading contenders heading into the $60,000 Ian Weigh Toyota Rockhampton Pro-Am, starting Wednesday at Rockhampton Golf Club.

Plans are in place to purchase a caravan and continue their nomadic start to married life for the next 18 months, the New South Wales pair taking full advantage of the unique opportunity that they have been afforded as professional golfers.

“We’ve found that balance of golf being this thing that allows us to travel the country,” said Boyd, the 2020 PGA National Trainee of the Year.

“We love Australia and we want to see it all. Whereas other people would have to quit their jobs to go and do that, we can sort of do both hand in hand.

“You have to be switched on when you get to the golf course, but you also need to switch off and our passion is camping and exploring and going and seeing things.

“We try and do that on our days off or make time to do things away from golf.”

Adds Vasquez, who became a full PGA Member on January 1: “We don’t really treat golf as a job.

“We’re not really that hard on ourselves because we know it’s golf that allows us to do what we love, which is travel around Australia.

“If it wasn’t for golf, we wouldn’t be able to do that.”

Boyd and Vasquez both played the Pro-Am Series last year to limited success, the pair struggling to adapt somewhat to their new environment.

But they are in their element now and believe that having each other for support gives them something of a competitive advantage.

“I see it through good mates and others. It is a big struggle being away for such long periods,” said Boyd.

“Whilst it’s hard for them, it’s also hard for the people at home.

“Sometimes things like relationships are put under stress because of the profession, whereas I’m not in that position, so I’m pretty lucky.”

In addition to having her hubby on hand, Vasquez has played the role of recruiter to bring fellow WPGA members into the Pro-Am fold.

Emma Ash was third at Biloela and the likes of Rhianna Lewis, Sarah Yamaki-Branch, Jordan O’Brien and Kelsey Bennett have all made starts throughout the Queensland stretch.

Their presence has been well received by the tournament hosts and fellow competitors and expanded the support network available to Vasquez.

“The others who have come this year are loving it, which is really good actually,” she said.

“I didn’t know how it would sit but they’re all for it, so I am really happy about that.

“Even the other day at Biloela, (joint winner) Anthony (Choat) was looking at the leaderboard and said to himself that if Danni birdies one of the last three and beats me, he’d be so happy for me, which is nice.

“He said if it was anyone else, he would hate it, but because it was me, he was very, very happy. So that made me feel a bit good.”

And as much as they are there to support each other, there remains a layer of competitiveness between husband and wife.

“We got paired together for the first time ever a few weeks ago and Darcy kept making birdie after birdie, so there’s definitely a competitiveness there,” Vasquez added.

That competitiveness comes with an incentive, too.

“The rule was that whoever has the worst score has to do the cleaning up, but it’s changed now,” Vasquez said.

“Between us we’ve got one motorised buggy and one old push buggy, so whoever has the best score gets the motorised buggy for the next event.”

“I’ve got to start playing better,” added Boyd, “because I’ve now got to push my buggy around Rockhampton for the next three days.”

Boyd has been drawn to play with Rhianna Lewis off the first tee at 11am on Wednesday while Vasquez will tee off alongside Harrison Wills from the 10th tee, also at 11am.

First groups are out at 6:50am.

Round 1 draw