New Zealand’s Nick Coxon and Daniel Pearce are tied at the top of the leaderboard on 7-under par midway through the second round at the REBEL Sport Masters.

Coxon began his round on even par and teeing off the 10^th he immediately got off to a flying start with a birdie.

A bogey on the 12^th hole, his only for the round, was quickly erased by four more birdies on holes 13, 15, 16 and 17 making the turn at 4-under the card.

“I actually played similar to how I played that back-9 yesterday,” said Coxon who shot four birdies through holes 10 to 18 in round one.

“Starting on the back today I was 4-under again so I guess I just like that back-9.”

It was a matter of staying patient on the front-9 for Coxon who only made a single birdie on the 8^th hole to finish his second round on 5-under par 66.

“I was getting a little frustrated not making anything on that front-9 but I did have a couple of good saves and then to birdie the 8^th was nice,” added Coxon.

The 21-year-old will likely find himself in one of the leading groups as the inaugural REBEL Sport Masters reaches the halfway mark in just his second appearance on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia. “It’s good to be up there at the top of the leaderboard but we’re only halfway so hopefully I can keep this up and we’ll see where I end up at the end of the week.”

Pearce, who also began from the 10^th tee today came out firing with a run of four straight birdies from the 13^th to the 16^th holes.

Two double bogeys in a row on the 17^th and 18^th holes threatened to de-rail his round but he was able to steady the ship and score three more birdies on his run home for a round two score of 3-under 68.

“It was pretty frustrating out there to be honest, I played probably better than I did yesterday I just got a little rushed there in the middle and made a couple of mistakes,” said Pearce.

“But I still played well so I’m happy with today. It’s been a little while since I’ve shot a couple of under-par rounds in a tournament so it’s good to be in front.”

Bouncing back from two double bogeys in a row played an important part in Pearce’s round and he said his birdie immediately following was one of his best shots of the day.

“I hit a really good 9-iron in to the first and it was probably one of my best shots of the day it was really good,” added Pearce.

“To double 17 and 18 was very frustrating especially being on 4-under at that point, I gave myself a pretty good talking to so it was good to hit a nice shot in there and get myself back on track for the back-9.”

The afternoon field is now on course.