Challengers came and went as the morning round on day two delivered equal measure of red numbers and stumbles.

Starting the second round two shots back of Lawson, Dimi Papadatos rose to a share of the lead at 10-under on the back of his fifth birdie of the day but struck trouble on the par-4 fourth hole, dropping two shots on his way to a 2-under 70 to be two back and outright second, two shots clear of Peter Cooke and Charlie Dann.

Cooke moved into a strong position until a double-bogey at the par-4 18th turned a second consecutive 68 into a 70 for a 6-under total at the halfway mark while Queenslander Dann got to 9-under before a run of three consecutive bogeys from the sixth hole led to a second straight round of 3-under 69 to sit four back.

In trickier wind conditions than he experienced during the first round, Lawson was pleased to again finish under par despite not matching the quality of ball-striking on display on day one.

“I wasn’t playing great but I managed to get a score and give myself some chances,” Lawson said post-round.

“Even if I’d rolled a few more putts in I could have gone a bit lower not hitting it great so that was a good sign.

“The top eight are exempt through the first round of the match play so I’d say that’s the goal that everyone’s looking at.

“At the same time, I’m trying to have a mindset of no matter what tournament it is, what round it is or how I’m going, just hit each shot as good as I can and not thinking about any outside influences.

“When you’re walking around you can think about stuff like that but if your routine and your process is really good it’s just another shot.

“It’s almost impossible to not think about some things but the better I can do it the easier it will get.”

The most significant move of the morning however came from an unlikely source, 18-year-old local amateur Levi Sclater.

Winner of the Tasmanian Junior Masters 12 months ago, Sclater received an invitation into the tournament after finishing as the leading qualifier at the Gippsland Super 6 Amateur event at Warragul Country Club in late December.

Following up an opening round of 1-under 71 with a 3-under 69 to sit in a tie for ninth, Sclater is well placed to be one of the 24 players who qualify for Sunday’s match play section having achieved his initial goal of making the two-round cut.

“I wanted to make the first cut for sure but I just thought I’d see how I go,” said Sclater, who dropped shots at both 17 and 18 to close out his round.

“If I’m going all right then the goal is now to make the second cut.

“I was a bit nervous on the 10th hole – my first hole – in the first round but once I got going and made a couple of birdies it was pretty good.

“Today was the same. I was less nervous on the first hole today. It took me a few holes and then I made three birdies in a row and that kick-started me for the day.”

As the afternoon groups begin their second rounds the cut-line is sitting at even par, prominent players such as Geoff Ogilvy (E), David McKenzie (E), Jake Higginbottom (+1) and Daniel Fox (+1) in need of good rounds to progress through to the third round.