Michael Hollick kept himself in the mix on Friday with a second round of two-under-par 69 to reach the halfway mark of the DP World Tour’s Crown Australian Open at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in a share of 18th.

After an up-and-down round in the first round, which included an ace and three bogeys, he went bogey-free on a course widely regarded as one of the most testing on any of the tours, with birdies on the 15th and the 18th on his way home.

That put him five strokes off the lead, which was shared at nine-under. Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and new DP World Tour member Daniel Rodrigues were in a share of the lead after the second round. After high winds made scoring challenging in the opening round at Royal Melbourne, conditions proved more favourable on Friday with a host of low totals over the world-renowned Composite Course.

Denmark’s Neergaard-Petersen followed up an opening 67 by going one better to reach nine under, with Rodrigues of Portugal – a recent graduate of the Qualifying School – joining him after carding a seven-under-par 64 for the low round of the day.

They led the way from Australia’s Min Woo Lee who was one adrift at eight-under after a 65 that included a hole-out eagle, with his countrymen Adam Scott and Cam Smith along with Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz two back at the halfway point.

World number two McIlroy birdied three of his final four holes to safely progress through to the weekend at two-under, with last week’s winner David Puig among those to miss the cut at level-par.

Robin Williams was the other South African to make the cut at one-under after he carded a level-par 71 in the second round. He was in a share of 38th.