Australian Open: Daniel Hillier, Ryan Fox in contention at Royal Melbourne

Daniel Hillier in action during the second round of the Australian Open. Photo / Getty Images

Four birdies in his last five holes led to Kiwi golfer Daniel Hillier working his way into contention in the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne.

Hillier shot a three-under-par 68 second round on Friday to be six-under for the tournament and three shots off the lead.

Starting his day on the back nine, the 27-year-old was at even par through 11 holes after carding pars on all of those before a bogey on the par-four third.

But birdies on the fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth holes meant he finished in strong form before the weekend.

Hillier said he was happy to be in contention at the halfway point of the tournament, especially given how he felt during his second round.

“I was pretty flat for the most of it. Didn’t feel great for the best part of maybe 12, 13 holes of that round,” Hillier said.

“Then, I don’t know, I came around the turn. There were a few more people out, a few more people getting behind me and that gave me a bit more energy down the stretch and I was able to finish off with a few birdies, which was nice.”

He sat level with fellow Kiwi Ryan Fox as the top Kiwis in the field in a tie for seventh, with Fox dropping a few spots on the leaderboard after an even-par 71 in his second round.

Portugal’s Daniel Rodrigues and Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen held the clubhouse lead at nine-under-par.

Rodrigues climbed 11 places on the leaderboard with a seven-under round, which was the best score of the day, while Neergaard-Petersen backed up his four-under first round with a five-under second.

Current world No 2 Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, bounced back after a one-over first round with a three-under second to move under par for the tournament.

A birdie on his last hole of the day saw McIlroy move to two-under at the halfway point to make the cut and climb more than 20 spots up the leaderboard.

Kiwi Tyler Hodge was in the same boat as McIlroy, also backing up a one-over first round with a three-under second round.

New Zealand duo Nick Voke (-1) and Kerry Mountcastle (par) also made it through to the weekend, while Kazuma Kobori (+3), Jimmy Zheng (+3) and Josh Geary (+8) were among those to miss the cut.

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.