Tasked with following a sublime 9-under 63 in Round 1 that matched the low round in tournament history, the Aussie left-hander struggled to convert birdie opportunities for much of Round 2 before a final flurry yielded a round of 4-under 68 and 13-under total through 36 holes.

That is a new 36-hole low since the tournament moved to Greystone in 2016 and gives the 54-year-old a one-shot advantage from Kiwi Steven Alker (67) who, in turn, has a three-stroke buffer from YE Yang (68), Chris DiMarco (65) and Alex Cjeka (69).

Green was 10-under for the championship when he birdied the par-3 10th to start day two but bogeys at 12 and 14 either side of a birdie on 13 brought him back to even par for the day.

Three straight birdies from the ninth hole saw Green return to the top of the leaderboard before taking another step back with a dropped shot at the par-4 sixth.

A silky approach to three feet set up a birdie at the par-4 eighth and then Green finally got a putt to fall on nine from 30 feet.

“It felt a little bit like probably what I should have got out of the day,” Green said of his closing birdies.

“I hit a lot of great iron shots and set up a lot of birdie chances and just missed them all.

“They’re a bit tricky, some of the reads today, so I was pleased to have finished well.”

A runner-up on the PGA TOUR Champions six times, Green is poised yet again to be in contention deep into Sunday.

Admitting that he was unlikely to match his score from Round 1, the three-time DP World Tour winner was content to continue to play well.

“It’s just the law of averages really, with the amount of times you actually do shoot blinding rounds of golf like that,” Green added.

“It’s rare to do that, and then to come and try to do it again, it’s hard to do mentally.

“It’s possible, it’s always possible, but law of averages say otherwise, don’t they.

“I’m happy to have gone out and had a few birdies still and set up a lot of chances. Lots of good signs.”

A frustrating day on the greens saw Greg Chalmers (71) drop outside the top 10 and into a tie for 13th at 6-under, Cameron Percy tied for 18th at 5-under after a round of 3-under 69.

David Bransdon (71) is in a tie for 26th through two rounds and Steve Allan (68) and Michael Wright (71) are tied 32nd heading into the weekend.

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