Kiwi Michael Hendry sets the pace at the men’s Vic Open

Deyen Lawson leads the Australians at halftime in the men’s Vic Open after first round leader Ryan Ruffels finished with a disastrous quadruple bogey on 13th Beach.

After getting off to a flying start on Thursday with a course record 61, Ruffels was still well under 14 in Friday’s second round with just one hole to play.

But on the final par 5 18. Everything went wrong when the 24-year-old hit three shots in an obstacle, two of which could not be found.

Ruffels eventually holed out for a quadruple bogey nine and a round of a 73-over, dropping him to 15th place on 10-under.

Local favorite Lawson, who was doing his professional internship at nearby Curlewis GC, went the other way on Friday, blasting a nine-under 63 to move up to second place at 16-under.

Lawson has previously won the WA Open this season and is eighth on the Australasian Order of Merit.

But the absolute frontrunner is New Zealand’s Michael Hendry, who ripped open the Creek course on Friday morning with a bogey-free 10-under-62 to move up to 18-under-126.

“It feels a bit like (the stars are aligned), yeah,” said 43-year-old Hendry, a former NZ Open and PGA champion who has been a regular on the Japan Tour for a decade.

“It was one of those days where everything seemed to be going well and I was hitting a lot of really good shots and putts falling too.

“It was a really nice day.”

Gavin Fairfax was an absolute third at 14 under, a shot ahead of four other Australians – Justin Warren, Mathew Goggin, Haydn Barron and amateur Jack Buchanan.

The half cut was made at five under.