A day after matching the Royal Fremantle Golf Club course record of 9-under 63, McLeod dripped in a 15-footer for birdie on his final hole on Friday to post 1-under 71 and join Rudgeley at 10-under par.

Gold Coast’s Robyn Choi was 6-under on her round and 10-under for the tournament through 15 holes but finished with three consecutive bogeys to drop into a share of sixth at 7-under par.

A round of 6-under 66 by Brisbane’s Gavin Fairfax was the best of Round 2 and got him to 8-under and tied for third alongside Victorian Zach Murray (67) and New Zealand’s Kerry Mountcastle (70).

Playing in the afternoon groups, McLeod was faced with a far sterner test in Round 2 as the notorious ‘Fremantle Doctor’ gusted as much as 35km/h, calling on the work he has done the past year with short game coach Matt Ballard to hold his place at the top of the leaderboard.

“It could have quite easily (got away from me),” said McLeod.

“I was hitting it quite nicely and kind of out of nowhere I hit some very average shots today.

“It’s nice to grind out the pars and know I can get it up-and-down.

“I have that confidence now whereas before I tried to hit every green because I wouldn’t get it up and down.

“So that’s a confidence builder.”

Backing up her round of 5-under 67 in windy conditions on Thursday afternoon, Rudgeley made birdie at each of the four par-5s in a second straight 67 to be the first to post 10-under.

Playing in the afternoon wave that had it almost 1.5 strokes tougher in Round 1, Rudgeley had to contend with strong winds on the back nine on Friday morning as ‘The Doctor’ made an early house call.

It did little to faze her though, her junior days playing in Perth and past two years on the Ladies European Tour giving her the ideal grounding.

“I play Europe and over there, it’s windy all the time, so I’m pretty used to it,” said Rudgeley.

“I understand it now, which is always a bonus.

“Just hit the right shots with that wind and most of the time managed to execute pretty well.”

The first of Rudgeley’s three WA Amateur titles came in 2017 at The Western Australian Golf Club where Min Woo Lee won the men’s championship.

She is now poised to win the tournament that carries Minjee and Min Woo Lee’s names.

“It’s amazing that the two of them can do this event for us here in Perth,” said Rudgeley, who is expecting a gallery of family and friends to follow her in the final group on Saturday.

“It’s obviously the first Players Series we’ve had here and it’s amazing for everyone, even the juniors that are going to be coming in on the weekend.”

Fifth at the WA Open at Mandurah Country Club in October, Fairfax once again found a tree-lined, twisting layout to his liking.

A graduate of the PGA of Australia Membership Pathway Program at Redland Bay Golf Club five years ago, Fairfax has leant on 91-game former St Kilda player Gary Odgers to assist with the mental side to professional sport.

“I’ve been doing a bit of stuff with him in my mental game the last couple of years and it’s definitely helped,” said Fairfax.

“Not leaps and bounds, but just a little bit more polished and a little bit more controlled in situations where you might lose a bit of control or let your emotions to get the better of you.”

A total of 51 players made the cut that fell at 2-under par.

On Saturday the professionals will be joined by competitors in the Webex All Abilities Players Series and the Webex Junior Players Series.

Television coverage of Round 3 starts at 4pm AEDT on Fox Sports and Kayo. Round 4 coverage begins at 2pm AEDT Sunday.