Sunraysia superstar Greg Rhodes made a double-bogey on his opening hole of the Australian Senior Amateur Championship.
It was the last time many in the field saw him.
Rhodes, a member at Coomealla and a prolific winner around the Mildura district, completed his second consecutive round of 69 at Manly Golf Club today to charge to the lead at four under with one round to play.
So good has Rhodes been that only eight other players are within 10 strokes in a 123-strong field.
And should he continue his consistent form in tomorrow’s finale, there are only four within six shots who have a realistic chance of running him down.
After his opening double on day one, Rhodes has peeled off 10 birdies around the testing Manly layout and only given back four bogeys.
His nearest rival is West Australian Trevor Hughes who today added a one-under-par round of 70 to his opening 71 to sit at 141, three adrift.
Rhodes’ fellow overnight leader Peter Hannah was slightly erratic today in carding a 74 that left him at 143, while local hope Peter Thomas couldn’t go with them and fired an 83 to drop from contention.
Richard Greville, of Avondale, added a 72 to sit at even-par 142 and outright third, while the big move up the board today came from defending champion, Melbourne’s Gordon Claney.
Claney, of Kingston Heath, matched Rhodes’ 69 to vault up to 143 alongside Hannah in a tie for fourth.
The third and final round tomorrow starts at 7.30am with the leaders off at 1.15pm.
Second round leaderboard:
http://lb.miclub.com.au/display-leaderboard?club=golfaus&leaderboardId=507829