Heath D&aposAltera has fired a second round of 66 to open up a one-shot lead after the second round of the Victorian Open in Melbourne. In hot conditions at the Spring Valley layout, the Victorian matched his first round score of five-under to finish the day at 10-under and one stroke clear of fellow Victorians Craig Spence and Ashley Hall. Scott Laycock, David McKenzie, Cameron Percy and Chris Downes are tied for fourth at six-under, while overnight leader James McLean slipped back to a share of eighth at minus five. But it is D&aposAltera who leads the field of top class golfers and the Geelong-based professional was extremely pleased with his round. “I just tried to keep cool yesterday so I was glad to be playing this morning in cooler weather,” he said. “I got off to a pretty shaky start down the first, but I backed it up with two birdies and then later in the round I did the same thing, so I was really pleased with that. “It was more about not getting down on myself and soldiering on and making more birdies.” New South Welshmen Paul Sheehad and Aaron Townsend are still in the hunt at four-under along with local hopes Heath Reed and Ryan Haywood, while joint overnight leader Andre Stoltz dropped back to equal 13th after a 73. Second round results from the Victorian Open: (par 71) -10: Heath D&aposAltera -9: Craig Spence, Ashley Hall -6: Scott Laycock, David McKenzie, Cameron Percy, Chris Downes -5: James McLean -4: Ryan Haywood, Heath Reed, Paul Sheehan, Aaron Townsend -3: Brad Andrews, Andre Stolz, Adam Bland, Mahal Pearce, Mathew Holten, Marcus Cain
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