After an opening round of 74, Mueck struck back with two-under on day two and is even going into the weekend’s play.

Mueck’s second round included birdies at the 4th, 8th, 11th and 12th holes, plus 12 pars.

The only bogeys in a consistent round were at the 7th and 8th.

While the young gun stayed in the title race, albeit a long way behind Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo, 11-under, the run for central Victoria’s other golfing aces – Heath Reed and Andrew Martin ended.

Reed finished at three-over following a second round score of 77 in the west.

Day two for the now Queensland-based golfer, who learnt his craft at Marong and Neangar Park, included a birdie at the 12th, and 12 pars.

Bogeys were at the 2nd, 7th, 17th and 18th, while a double-bogey at the fourth dented confidence.

After a disastrous finish to his opening round, Martin hit back with a par round of 72.

But the meltdown late in Martin’s opening round, which included a quadruple bogey, proved costly as he finished equal 119th on 151.

A much-improved second round included birdies at the 11th, 14th and 15th, a dozen pars, and just three bogeys – 4th, 8th and 17th.

Going into today’s third round, Grillo is four clear of New Zealand’s Jason Scrivener and American world No.24 Bo van Pelt, who hit seven-under 67 yesterday.

Next best at six-under are Max McCardle, Michael Hendry and Jason Dufner.

Van Pelt was solid without being spectacular in his two-under 70 on Thursday, but displayed far more polish in his second round.

“I was five back going into today and, whenever you’re that far back, you try to shrink it going into the weekend,” van Pelt said.

“My caddie and I always talk about is just trying to give ourselves a chance on Sunday, and then you just never know what will happen,” van Pelt said.