That drought may break again this weekend with a swag of Sydneysiders all in contention midway through the second round of the Golf Challenge NSW Open at Concord.

Leading the charge is Picton’s Justin Warren, who, despite a surprise bogey on the par-five 17th, is the clubhouse leader as the afternoon rounds get underway.

Warren, 25, had nine birdies and two bogeys for a second round 64 to be one-shot ahead of fellow Sydneysider Nathan Barbieri.

In fact, Barbieri (-9), amateur Harrison Crowe (-8), Blake Windred (-7), and another amateur Harry Bolton (-7) all took advantage of the kind morning conditions to cement their spots for the weekend but also give rise to the chance of another Sydneysider finally taking home the coveted Cup.

Barbieri, the 23-year-old from Ryde, backed up his first-round 65 with a solid three-under 68 to be at -9 and very much a contender for final groupings tomorrow unless, of course, someone masters the afternoon conditions. Not bad for a young player in only his third month as a professional golfer.

“I was treating it like another day,” he said of his solid second round to back up his opening 65.

“There’s a lot of birdies out there and I tried not to get ahead of myself. I’m pretty shocked (by my score) and there’s still the afternoon rounds to come but it’s nice to be in a good position early.”

Asked how the course was holding up after armageddon-level rains during the week, Barbieri said: “I actually can’t give enough credit to the greens staff. It was unbelievable coming out here on Tuesday and seeing how wet it was, thinking we’d be playing preferred lies every day. But it’s slowly getting drier and full credit to them (ground staff) for the job they have done”.

The round of the morning belonged to Canberra’s Harry Bolton. He scorched around the par-70 layout in a seven-under masterclass that only had the one flaw – a lone bogey on the super-tough par-3 16.

Bolton, 24, said a recent alignment change and confident putting were behind his round.

“I’ve found something in my ball striking, through switching up my alignment a few weeks ago and it’s really helped my ball flight,” he said.

“I’ve been hitting it solidly off the tee which helps here, especially if you can keep it out of the trees. The greens are unbelievable and I hit a lot of good putts and most of them went in. That’s always nice.”

Bolton found himself in that rarified air of actually looking forward to putting.

“I dripped one in there on nine from 18 feet,” he said. “I didn’t hit the greatest approach, but I was telling my caddie that if I could just hit the greens that I’ve been putting well, so it was nice to get that. With the speed of the greens today, your lines and speed have to be bang on.

Further back is amateur Harrison Crowe who shot a five-under round to accompany his opening 68, and another who made some long putts on these tricky Concord greens to be in a great position for the weekend.

“I started off well, birdieing three of my first four,” said Crowe, a favourite son from St Michael’s Golf Club.

“Then I hit the brakes a bit, but when we turned to the back nine I holed two bombs in a row. A bogey (on the 3rd) and double-bogey (4th) weren’t great but then I backed it up with a couple of birdies and then I birdied the last. It was a bit up and down but still a great feeling.”

Other notable scores came from South Australian Jack Thompson, who followed up his opening 66 with a three-under round of 68 to be at -8.