Anthony Quayle's recent hot streak on and off the course has continued, with the Australian claiming the halfway lead in the men's Vic Open at 13th Beach.
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Taking advantage of the less-taxing morning conditions, Quayle made it all the way to 11-under-par before a double bogey at the sixth - his fourth-last hole.
He eventually signed for a six-under 66 on Friday to be at nine-under 135, one shot clear of fellow Australians Nick Flanagan (68) and Peter Wilson (71).
Quayle will tee it up on the Japanese tour this year after finishing fourth in the qualifying competition.
It was part of an impressive finish to 2017 that also included a top-20 result at the Australian Open at The Lakes.
"Then I went to Bali and proposed to my girlfriend so it has been pretty much a whirlwind couple of weeks," he said.
Quayle, 23, was pleased at how he regrouped in the closing holes on Friday after the double-bogey six.
"You don't want to let one bad mistake compound into more mistakes," he said.
"Today, I feel like I stepped up from my dent and hit a good shot on the seventh.
"Making a mistake like that does just seem to kill momentum but it is what it is and it's going to happen."
Quayle grew up in the remote town of Gove in the Northern Territory before boarding at the Hills International School on the Gold Coast, the alma mater of Jason Day.
Flanagan looked to have the golfing world at his feet in 2003 when he became the first Australian in 100 years to win the US Amateur title.
Despite many more ups than downs in the subsequent 15 years, he did qualify for the 2017 US Open, 12 months after caddying for close friend Aron Price at the same event.
"I got off to a good start today, got some lucky breaks on the front nine with a couple of chip-ins that probably shouldn't have gone in. They were going pretty fast," he said after signing for a second-straight 68.
"That's two or three shots there that could have gone either way.
"It got really tricky on that back side, the wind got up and I was just hanging on.
"I could probably have been a bit more aggressive, but shot one over on the back which was pretty good in the end."
Australians Taylor Macdonald and Jordan Zunic and Kiwi Nick Voke were tied for fourth at 137.
Former Vic Open winners Robert Allenby and Michael Long and teen tyro Ryan Ruffels were among the prominent players to miss the halfway cut.
