In the quietly understated and dignified manner that has characterised the vast majority of his distinguished playing career, Peter O Malley has slipped into contention for this Australian Open title. A local resident and a member here at The Lakes, the 45-year old New South Welshman is six shots back of halfway leader Geoff Ogilvy after a second round 68 took him to five-under par for the 36-holes played. Which is no surprise really. O Malley arrived for his 25th appearance in his national championship fresh from victory in the New South Wales Open, a welcome return to form after a more than disappointing season on the European Tour. A lowly 192nd in the 2010 Race to Dubai, what was once the Order of Merit, the former English and Scottish Open champion has also slipped to 41st on the European Tour s all-time money list and so is not exempt for the 2011 season. The difference between my play these last two weeks and my time in Europe is that, over there, I am hitting into greens with much longer clubs, he said after making what was his sixth birdie of the second day at his final hole, the short ninth. The courses aren t as long here, so that plays to my advantage. I can place my drives where I need to and I m hitting lots of greens. It’s not all about smashing it out there anywhere. It is, of course, modern professional golf’s biggest shame that someone of O Malley s quality is gradually being squeezed out of the game by the disproportionate advantage these days afforded distance off the tee. Sadly for this ball-striking machine, his accuracy rarely gains its proper reward on courses measuring well in excess of 7,000-yards. I still feel like I can play good golf, he continues. But I can t play good golf on courses set up the way they are in Europe. Next year I ll play in most of the One Asia events and maybe ask for a few sponsor s invitations in Europe. I m not quite ready to walk away completely just yet. In the meantime, of course, O Malley has what would be a career highlight to chase: a first Australian Open win. Given that he has holed so little over the opening two rounds yet is still five under the card a really low round is clearly out there if he can get the putts rolling. I ve been gearing up for this week all year, he says with a smile. I know the course and the greens so well, even if I don t think I ve ever seen the putting surfaces as slow as they are this week. It’s a really big advantage knowing where to hit to on the greens though. And I m feeling more confident with my game, even if, after the year I ve had, I m obviously not entirely sure what is going to happen over the weekend. I got off to a good start today four birdies in the first five holes – but eventually had 32 putts for the round. Yesterday I had 33 in my 71. So there are still a lot of birdies out there. I made nothing on the front-nine until the ninth. Having said that, if I keep doing what I m doing I feel like I can stay in contention. Geoff has obviously played great and will take a bit of catching. So I will need to be a bit more aggressive on the greens. I made a few last week putting with my eyes shut and I ve stuck with that here. All a case of not-seeing and believing then.