Even after a 9-under 61 and 17-under total, leader Ben Henkel was overshadowed today in Warragul, with young West Australian Connor McKinney recording the first 59 in Australia in close to 20 years.

At 12-under after his heroics, McKinney sits in fourth at the halfway mark, with Tim Hart and Corey Lamb Henkel’s closest challengers tied second at 14-under.

Sydneysider Jason Hong is fifth at 10-under, before a trio of players, including Anthony Quayle, are tied sixth at 9-under.

First it was Hart, who after firing a 62 in the early morning at Warragul, put his name right alongside Henkel, who achieved the same course record score yesterday. Then, McKinney stormed home to blow both men out of the water, or off the top of the honour board.

What makes McKinney’s score all the more remarkable, is that after 27 holes, he was sitting right around the cutline at 3-under par, before playing his final nine holes in 9-under, or 26 shots.

Finishing his day on the short par-4 ninth, McKinney required an eagle to break 60, and after a perfect drive to 12-feet, the Scottish-born West Australian coolly poured it in.

“I made a good putt on one, a good sort of tricky putt. Parred two. A nice 10-footer on three, two putts and four, another one on five,” he recalled.

“My bunker shot on six nearly went in. It was pretty unlucky not to. That’s all right, I won’t complain.

“Seven hit it close. Eight, I actually holed a bunker shot, it looked like it was never missing.

“To match it altogether today and finish like I did, yeah, I’m pretty stoked with that.”

Playing just a few groups behind McKinney, Henkel quietly went about the business of consolidating his overnight lead, again sporting his now famous new glove.

Making the turn in 4-under on Friday, Henkel got to work early in catching up to Hart who had set the pace early, but the Bellarine Peninsula local was eager to regain the outright lead it seemed as he began a back nine charge.

Three consecutive birdies from holes ten through 12 achieved just that, but one shot wasn’t enough, as the 24-year-old kept his foot on the gas.

Two final birdies on 16, and then the tough closing par-3 18th, had Henkel sign for a 61, incredibly bettering his blistering opening round 62.

“Just fairways and greens today, probably a bit better obviously than yesterday, but just solid golf.,” he said.

“Went for the greens on some of the short holes and again, just right side and had the fat part of the green to chip up and putt up to, and then just struck it really well with my irons. “

After going low two days in a row, Henkel wasn’t surprised to see someone come in with a 59, and says he expects the remarkable scoring to continue through the weekend.

“It’s playing mint, the course is in great nick. You can bounce it up, spin them, you can do what you want. The course is set up for it and it’s playing awesome.”

After a frustrating start to his Tour season, Hart is happy to be back up the top of the leaderboard, the burly Queenslander’s aggressive style of play seeming to be favourable in Gippsland.

“After a big stretch of tournaments that we’ve had and not getting results, it’s very easy to get down and negative, so I’ve been trying really hard just trying to stay positive,” he said.

“Everyone’s good out here so you have to just keep making birdies and for me it’s always been just keeping the mistakes off the card.

“I always make enough birdies, I just make those mistakes. I’ve managed to just keep that to a minimum the last two days and hopefully I’ll do that again tomorrow and get into the match play and see how we go.”

Making today’s halfway cut was just the first milestone for players this week, with only the top-24 players after round three making it through to Sunday’s medal match play finals, tomorrow is truly moving day in Warragul.