The temperature was low and so was the scoring early this morning at the Horizon NZ PGA Championship with players lighting up the course.

Queenslander Jack Munro fired 6-under 65 while Victorian Deyen Lawson had 4-under 67, the pair finishing their second rounds tied for the lead on 9-under the card.

Munro’s round was highlighted by four consecutive birdies on the front-9 and an eagle at the par-5 14^th but he gave the shots straight back to the course with a double bogey at the par-4 15^th.

“On 14 I hit a good drive, then played an average second shot, it was a hair short but I chipped it in,” said Munro.

“Funnily enough I didn’t really feel like I was striking it well but I holed some good putts and it was going straight so that was probably a good thing.”

The inconsistencies in his ball striking were evened out by a hot putter but were enough for him to head to the practice range post-round.

Lawson is back in action following a week off to caddy for his partner, Alexandra Orchard, at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Australian Open, an experience he believes has provided him new insight into his own game.

“It was actually really good to see a different side of it because I haven’t caddied much for Ali,” said Lawson.

“It was really good to see her play; it’s a different style game, a bit more course management which I’ve sort of tried to do with my game.”

While he was unable to set-up a lot of birdie opportunities, Lawson was pleased with his solid round and looks forward to seeing what the afternoon field can do.

“I started off with nothing special and through the middle started playing pretty solid but towards the end I struggled to roll many putts in,” said Lawson.

“I was hitting it to the middle of the greens, but I didn’t have too many really good birdie chances but I made some easy pars. All in all, I’m pretty happy with the two days.

“It will be interesting to see how the guys go this afternoon; it’s not too tough out there. Hopefully the New Zealand wind gets up and they can have some fun.”

Defending champion Jarryd Felton fired the best score of the morning, 7-under 64 moving him into the top-10.

However the highlight of the day belonged to local Pro, Josh Munn, who recorded a hole-in-one on the 152 metre par-3 16^th using his 8 iron.

The afternoon field, including overnight leader Ben Campbell, are now on course.