While the sun was shining the wind blew strongly, keeping the majority of scores in check and with just two shots separating the top seven players on the leaderboard.<\/p>\n
Following on from an even-par 73 on day one, Garner turned in 1-over on Wednesday but responded with four birdies and a lone bogey on the back nine, joining Ho-Tae Kim at 2-under through 36 holes.<\/p>\n
In his first year of the Membership Pathway Program at Pennant Hills Golf Club in Sydney, Garner is excited to be once again contending in a major event.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t chuffed with my start,\u201d said Garner, who had three bogeys in his first seven holes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been swinging it well so just keep hitting fairways and take advantage of the par 5s.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlayed smart and had a few more putts dropped today which was nice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t been in this position in a tournament since 2019 so I\u2019m looking forward to the next two days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kim, a PGA Associate based at Ryde-Parramatta Golf Club, backed up his 2-under round on Tuesday with an even par 73 in Round 2, also bouncing back after a rough start.<\/p>\n
\u201cHad a bit of a rough start with doubling the second hole but from there I battled through the front nine,\u201d said Kim.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurned 1-over and then through the back nine, made a couple of pars here and there and then finished strong towards the end, making three birdies in a row on 16, 17, 18.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defending champion Will Bayliss (76) is the only other player under par with Round 1 leader Jordy McGarry (78), Campbell Jones (73), Angelo Bourandanis (73) and 2023 champ Jack Wright (74) all at even par.<\/p>\n
The cut was set at 10-over-par, with exactly 50 players advancing to the final two days of play.
Round 3 tees off at 8am on Thursday morning with the feature group of Garner, Kim and Bayliss scheduled to tee off at 10:24am.<\/p>\n