Overnight leader Jordan Zunic has placed an exclamation mark
on his stranglehold of the Northern Territory PGA Championship.
Overnight leader Jordan Zunic has placed an exclamation mark
on his stranglehold of the Northern Territory PGA Championship.
Playing in the afternoon field, Zunic fired 4-under 67 to be
11-under the card after two rounds and leading by five shots.
"My expectations weren’t high after what I did yesterday,"
said Zunic, who opened with 7-under 64.
"I just tried to go out there, play solid golf and not try
too hard."
"Each day we play, I get better at understanding where to
hit the ball and where not to hit it. I am just going to stick to my game plan
the next two rounds and hopefully I can keep executing shots."
The cool, calm and collected 24-year-old is comfortable with
the position he holds as he looks to win his second title on the ISPS HANDA PGA
Tour of Australasia.
"The fact that I am leading going into the weekend is
fantastic. It’s something that, as a player, you always would like," added
Zunic, who won the New Zealand Open last year.
"This is why I practice, to be in this position. I am
looking forward to going out on the weekend, enjoying myself and keep playing
as well as I can."
Firing the best score of the second round, Victorian
Kristopher Mueck was impressed with his 6-under 64 after feeling uncomfortable
on the range in his warm-up.
"It’s nice to put a good score up and get back into the
tournament," said Mueck, who started the day at even par.
"I was on the range this morning thinking that I was going
to miss the cut. It wasn’t very pretty; I wasn’t too excited to get out there."
"So it was nice to find a bit of form out there and I am
looking forward to the weekend."
Also playing in the afternoon field and shooting 4-under 67
to join Mueck on the leaderboard is Victorian Todd Sinnott.
"I am fairly happy. I saw Zunic was at 11 so I just tried to
keep as close as possible to him. Hopefully I can make up some ground on the
weekend," said Sinnott.
"There have been greater deficits, people coming from
further behind, if I play well tomorrow possibly, but it depends on how Jordan
goes."
"If he shoots a ridiculous weekend score then he might be
too good but I will try my hardest to go with him."
Joining the afternoon pair tied on second is South Australian
Max McCardle who ground his way to a 1-under 70 this morning.
"It was hard work today. I missed a lot of greens and just
held it together with my chipping and putting," said 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."
Rounding out the top-5 on 5-under the card are Kota Kagasaki
(QLD), Deyen Lawson (VIC), Matt Millar (ACT), Tim Hart (QLD) and Darren Beck (NSW)
The second round cut at the Northern Territory PGA
Championship was made at 1-over the card with 54 Professionals and one amateur
making it through to the weekend rounds.
The second round will tee off at Palmerston Golf Course at 9.30am
with Jordan Zunic, Kristopher Mueck and Max McCardle on course at 11am.