The WA veteran and New South Welshman Rohan Blizard were the final two of 16 players to post a 36-hole score of 1-over par on Friday, enough to both sneak their way into the weekend rounds of the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship.

They were the first two players to tee off on Saturday morning and Strange took full advantage of the warming conditions to post 5-under 66. That advanced him from the tail of a 77-player field to a share of 17th as he signed his scorecard at 10.11am.

Cameron Smith, Jason Scrivener and Masahiro Kawamura were still 49 minutes away from starting their third rounds when Strange left a birdie putt inches short on 18 where just 17 hours earlier he made the 10-foot par putt that saw him sneak inside the cut-line.

“I always thought it was going to be at least one, maybe sneak to even,” said Strange, a two-time winner on the DP World Tour once ranked as high as 81st in the world.

“I know I doubled 10 when I turned the nine but I had three or four birdie putts that have caught the hole.

“I made it harder than it should have been. I snuck in and took advantage of the calm this morning.”

Cam Davis (66), Deyen Lawson (68), Wade Ormsby (69) were others to survive the cut-line and capitalise on day three, Davis making eagle at two and five birdies to join Strange at a 4-under and inside the top 20.

Whether they stay there by day’s end will be dependent on the fickle nature of the wind that can whip its way across RQ from opposite directions, according to Strange.

“It depends what the breeze does,” Strange said of the prospect of a low-scoring afternoon.

“It change here. It can go from a sou-west to north-east and changes holes on its head.

“Pins don’t seem too tucked, too silly. There are a couple where you just want to make your par and disappear but you can make birdies there.

“It’s all wind dependent.

“I think they’ve dumped some water on them overnight so the greens were a little bit receptive this morning to us. They might firm up this afternoon.”

All of which Strange can watch from the comfort of his hotel room should he so choose.

“I might be in time for another breakfast!” he joked.

“I probably won’t watch any golf. I’ll have a rest, hit some balls and chill out.”