The competition will be fierce this weekend at Remuera Golf
Club as a congested leaderboard sees plenty of talented players in contention
at the Holden NZ PGA Championship.

In the morning field the trio of James Nitties, Josh Geary and Scott Arnold all found themselves tied for the lead at the end of their second rounds on 11-under the card.

Playing together, overnight co-leader James Nitties shot a 4-under 68 but watched on as New Zealander Josh Geary was holing long range putts to fire 7-under 65.

While Geary said the holes felt as big as a basketball, Nitties was left reeling as his solid round felt more like even par.

Coming home with a late charge was Scott Arnold, he finished with three birdie and an eagle to also shoot 7-under 65.

Playing in the afternoon field Brett Rankin flew under the radar for the round until he too had a hot finish shooting back-to-back birdies followed by an eagle.

His 5-under 67 today to be tied for the lead was a result of a phone call to his coach, PGA Professional Richard Woodhouse. Some alignment changes paying immediate dividends.

Michael Hendry provided the highlight of the day shooting an equal course record round of 8-under 64 to be one shot off the lead at 10-under the card. Fellow New Zealander Mathew Perry also equalled the course record but is T14 going into the weekend.

South African Dylan Frittelli is enjoying his first trip to New Zealand. Playing alongside the country’s second highest ranked male golfer, Ryan Fox, Frittelli fired a 7-under 65 to also be tied 5^th with Hendry.

Joining the pair was round one co-leader Mark Brown, who felt like he failed to capitalise on the par-5’s today as he recorded a score of 3-under 69.

Queenslanders Tim Hart and Brad Kennedy are tied 8^thafter two rounds on 9-under the card.

Rounding out the top-10 on 8-under the card are Gareth Paddison (NZ), Nick Gillespie (NZ), Anthony Houston (VIC), Aaron Townsend (NSW) and Tom Power-Horan (VIC).

The second round cut at the Holden NZ PGA Championship was made at 3-under the card with 52 Professionals making the weekend.

The third round of the Holden NZ PGA Championship will tee off at 9am with the lead group of Nitties, Geary and Arnold on course at Remuera Golf Club at 12pm.

Quick Quotes

Scott Arnold, 69, 65,
11-under, T1

It was a little scrappy at the start, and then I had a good run through the turn. I birdied 15, 16, 17 and then I eagle 18 so that catapulted everything up.

I played a lot better on the front side, just didn’t hole any putts. It could have been a lot better but at the end of the day I will take it considering how I felt this morning and the way I was hitting it.

With the way the weather was, there wasn’t much breeze, low scores are out there. It helps when you play with good blokes who you know, it makes it easier.

So long as you’re at the top at the end. It’s a good start, I just have to build on it and do the same over the weekend.

There are a lot of par-5’s that you get home in two, the greens are pretty receptive so I am pretty sure the scoring is going to be quite low.

Josh Geary, 69, 65,
11-under, T1

"I managed some really good recoveries and great putting early on, and I was able to take advantage of the par fives. I played the first 10 holes in seven-under so it was a good start. 

"I holed three bombs from 30 odd feet and a chip in too. It was one of those days where the hole looked as big as a bucket and they kept going in."

James Nitties, 66,
68, 11-under T1

"I shot four-under par but it felt like even par. The par fives are playing really short, there are a few birdies out there."

"Playing with Josh today, he had seven putts for the first nine holes so he was holing everything and not so much for anyone else."

"We have fed off each other a bit in the first couple of days so hopefully we can carry that on into the weekend." 

Brett Ranking, 66,
67, 11-under, T1

"I played well today which was a bit of a difference from yesterday. I birdied 17 and eagled 18 which was much better than yesterday, it was good to shoot a good round and play well."

"The ball striking improvement from yesterday to today is something I am pretty happy about. I had a chat to the coach last night and he said a couple of little set up issues were at fault, so I changed that today. I drove the ball really well, pretty straight and pretty long for me so it was pretty
easy out there."

"That’s the mystery of golf, today I honestly played five times better than I did yesterday. I felt I rolled it as good as yesterday, I probably didn’t chip it as we well as yesterday, I don’t know it’s just golf, you just get lucky sometimes, and I think I just got very lucky yesterday."

Dylan Frittelli, 69,
65, 10-under, T5

"I played great today, it was wonderful golf out there besides those two bogeys and it was a pleasure to play with Ryan Fox and Brendan Jones today. They really are great guys."

"I have been in contention now four out the six tournaments I have played in so getting used to it now.  Sleeping is much easier, whereas before it was tough to focus, but used to it now, and looking forward to the week end, hopefully I can get the job done and get that win."

"Being familiar with being in contention is helpful, controlling the adrenalin and excitement which doesn’t really help you when you are trying to swing a golf club and hit it straight. I have been able to calm myself down well over the last few tournaments and hopefully that will continue over the
weekend."

Michael Hendry, 70,
64, 10-under, T5

"It’s really nice to have a good solid round, I played really well today, pretty happy with that. It’s been a lot of hard work and I haven’t been playing very well for the last six months so it’s nice to see some of that hard work come to fruition."

On the course record: "I had no idea at all. I was just trying to shoot as low as possible because I knew there were some good scores out there this morning. I wanted to make sure I had a good one and leave myself in with a  chance over the weekend."

 "I’m very keen to win this title again. It’s obviously a tournament that I’ve got really fond memories of and want to keep achieving at. Last year was disappointing, but it was also a lead up to something pretty special in Japan." 

Mark Brown, 65, 69,
10-under, T5

"It wasn’t quite as good as yesterday. I was a little bit off from tee to green and hit quite a few loose shots. For a long time there I was only hanging on and then I started to hit a few better shots towards the end, and managed to make a couple of birdies. It was a pretty fair reflection of how
I played, but it will need to be better over the weekend."

"I left a few putts short which was poor judgement on my part, nothing to do with the greens, they were superb, even in the afternoons. Late this afternoon they were still rolling pretty well so I can’t blame anyone else but myself for those ones."

"All the par-5’s are reachable, so you’ve got to take advantage of those, I didn’t really do that today. When you have four par-5’s which are pretty easy to start with then you’re expecting the scores to be pretty low each day and that’ll be the case over the weekend."