Neergaard-Petersen and Rodrigues seize control at Royal Melbourne

European duo Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Daniel Rodrigues have seized the Australian Open lead after capitalising on calmer conditions at Royal Melbourne.

European pair Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Daniel Rodrigues took advantage of gentle conditions on Friday at Royal Melbourne to storm to the Australian Open lead.

Denmark’s Neergaard-Petersen and Portugal’s Rodrigues shot second rounds of 66 and 64 respectively to move to nine-under and share the clubhouse lead.

Mexican Carlos Ortiz, who was one of three players who led overnight, was two shots back after a second-round 71.

Tournament drawcard Rory McIlory, who was among the afternoon players, was one-under for the second round after eight holes and even-par overall.

Neergaard-Petersen, who missed the cut at last week’s Australian PGA Championship in Brisbane. said the Royal Melbourne layout was “completely different” on Friday compared to Thursday, which there was much more wind to contend with.

Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen plays his second shot on the 14th hole at Royal Melbourne during his second-round 66. Picture: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images

“(It was) a lot easier to control the ball, and to put the ball in the right spots around the greens and give yourself some chances,” said Neergaard-Petersen, who was confident of continuing his good form on the weekend.

“I feel like I’ve proved over the last year or so that I have the level to compete out here and be in the thick of things on Sunday.”

New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, who was also one of the overnight leaders, shot an even-par second-round of 71 to remain at six-under overall.

“I just felt like I had one of those days where I was always in between clubs, and that’s not great out here,” Fox said.

“They had the pins a little tougher today (Friday) than they did yesterday and it just felt like I couldn’t get close to the hole, and I didn’t putt as well as yesterday.”

Other players alongside Fox at six-under after the morning groups were his fellow Kiwi Daniel Hillier, South Korea’s Si Woo Kim, Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello, China’s Wenyi Ding, Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat.

Wade Ormsby was the best of the Australians in the clubhouse at five-under after a second-round 69 to complement his Thursday effort of 68, while another of the overnight leaders, Queenslander Elvis Smylie, had dropped to five-under after eight second-round holes.