Sheradyn Johnson and Joel Mitchell returned the best scores of Round 2 at Tura Beach Country Club, their even par rounds of 73 remarkable given the difficulty of the challenge presented.

Following on from a 5-under 68 in Round 1, Porritt battled gamely in a round of 2-over 75 to be 3-under at the halfway mark and the leader by three strokes.

A double-bogey at the par-5 fourth was Porritt’s first stumble, a stumble he recovered from with back-to-back birdies at seven and eight.

A bogey at the par-3 ninth would be a portent of the difficulties to come, Porritt making five bogeys in the space of six holes.

But in a turnaround that could prove crucial by the end of the tournament on Friday, Porritt responded with birdies at 15, 17 and 18 to give him a three-stroke advantage from William Bayliss (77) with Daniel Gill (78) and Baxter Droop (76) a further three shots back at 3-over par.

“That was one of the hardest rounds of golf I’ve ever played,” Porritt said.

“The wind, along with the challenge of the greens, just made it hard to score.”

Round 3 gets underway at 8am Thursday with the leaders teeing off at 10:24am off the first tee.

Players will welcome the forecast for Round 3 as it is set to be sunny skies, minimal cloud cover and much lesser winds than experienced on Wednesday.

Round 2 scoreboard

Round 3 draw