It was a grind this morning in the second round of the
Northern Territory PGA Championship.

High temperatures and swirling winds made the Palmerston
Golf Course play far more difficult today.

"It was really hot early without the breeze. There was a
fair bit of moisture in the air which made the ball not travel as far. Then the
wind got up, it was quite blustery so it was quite tricky," said McCardle.

"The greens are really small so you have to commit to a
club. Whether you take an extra club, it’s hard to hit it close with the wind
up, so it’s hard to make birdies."

Starting his round with a double bogey, Max McCardle was
able to claw his way back to stay in contention, a late birdie ensuring an
under par round for the South Australian.

"It was hard work today. I missed a lot of greens and just
held it together with my chipping and putting," added McCardle.

"I was able to steal a birdie late to shoot under par, which
I am pretty happy with. To finish under with the way I played, I will
definitely take it."

"Without my short game today I could quite easily have shot
in the high 70’s, especially early on. I was just battling but I really held on
and grinded it out."

"I definitely think it was important today to get into the
clubhouse under par and not be too far off the lead."   

McCardle’s 1-under 70 was enough to see him hold onto second
spot on the leaderboard with overnight leader Jordan Zunic on course this
afternoon.

"There doesn’t look like there were too many big moves made
this morning," added McCardle.

"It’s going to be pretty tricky out there this afternoon so
hopefully I am still pretty close tomorrow morning."

Kota Kagasaki, Matt Millar and Deyen Lawson all managed to
fire rounds of 2-under the card to be tied 3^rd after two days.

Proving that there were birdies to be had out there was West
Australian Stephen Leaney.

Leaney fired the best score of the morning, his 4-under 67
moving him up into the top-10.

The afternoon field is now on course.