BY BRENDAN JAMES at THE AUSTRALIAN GOLF CLUB

It would hardly surprise to learn that Greg Chalmers likes cryptic crosswords, the really hard ones that force most of us to pull our hair out. It wouldn’t surprise because that’s how the two-time Australian Open Champion likes his golf courses – frustrating for most and hard to figure out, but can be solved with a little patience, smart thinking and precise execution.

In 1998 he was the only man not to finish over par for the 72-hole journey at Royal Adelaide and claimed the Stonehaven Cup in front of a deep field of quality players including Greg Norman, Nick Faldo and Fred Couples. At The Lakes in 2011, he won going low around a testing layout and one of the best-ever Australian Open fields that included Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, Jason Day, Aaron Baddeley, Geoff Ogilvy, Nick Watney and Jeff Senden, who all finished in the top-10.

Greg Chalmers watches his tee shot closely late in his second round. PHOTO: Getty Images Greg Chalmers watches his tee shot closely late in his second round. PHOTO: Getty Images

Tough courses and the game’s best players chasing him … the 41-year-old obviously revels in these circumstances and now he’s got both as the halfway leader of the Emirates Australian Open – a testing course that is only going to get harder and the World No.1 Rory McIlroy, World No.3 Adam Scott and American young gun Jordan Spieth sitting right on his hammer. For Chalmers, the marketing catch cry for this event has been “Bring It On!” and it could well be the mantra that sweeps him to victory on Sunday afternoon.

Chalmers, who will mark his 20th year as a touring professional in a few months time, knows all too well championships are not won on Friday night but he also knows how to play mistake free golf once he gets his nose in front.

“I have been fortunate enough to win this twice,” Chalmers said. “I think it's very early to be talking about winning given who's right behind me and who's playing very well, very early to be thinking about what's going to happen on Sunday night.

“In my experience, that hasn't gone very well for me in the past, so if we get to have that conversation (about winning), at the end of the week, on what that would mean … Friday night it doesn't seem to matter too much.”

The left-hander surged to the top of the leaderboard with two birdies in his final four holes of the second round and signed for a five under 66. But the foundation of the round was laid on the front nine with four birdies, including one at the long par-3 4th which was easily the hardest hole on the course for round two. Coming off a birdie at the previous hole, Chalmers flushed a 4-iron 215 yards (196 metres) to less than a metre from the hole.

“I felt very confident after the fourth hole because I hit such a beautiful shot there,” said Chalmers, who is at the tail end of an exhausting year in which he’s already played 34 events.

“Like I said, I had some holes coming up and I felt really good about what I'd been trying to do and how I struck my irons compared to yesterday.

“I didn't really hit it that well yesterday. I did some hard work after the round and this morning and that gave me a lot of confidence and I felt like I had a nice rhythm to my swing after that, and it was just a case of maintaining that and seeing if I could get some good results out of it.”

Tough day at the office for Rory McIlroy but he is still only one shot from the lead. PHOTO: Getty Images Tough day at the office for Rory McIlroy but he is still only one shot from the lead. PHOTO: Getty Images

Chalmers heads into the third round one shot clear of four players – Queenslander Adam Crawford, Victorian amateur Todd Sinnott, little-known American Conrad Shindler and McIlroy. Spieth is a further shot back, while Scott is lurking three strokes adrift having surged back into contention with a five under 66 after opening his campaign with a forgettable 74.

McIlroy is still the favourite to defend the title he snatched from Scott's grasp at the 72nd hole at Royal Sydney last year.

He’s rallied to post a pair of 69s, while seemingly still to overcome the lingering effects of jetlag. His second round was a wild rollercoaster ride of missed opportunities, sloppy mistakes being offset by sheer brilliance.

He had an astounding six bogies in his round, but managed to stay in touch with the lead on the back of six birdies and a business-like eagle at the par-5 14th hole. There, he smashed his driver out beyond the 300-metre mark, caressed a 6-iron into 15 feet from the flag and nailed the putt. It was a momentum changer after back-to-back bogies at the previous two holes.

"I felt like I had an opportunity today to shoot a good one and put a little bit of space between myself and the rest of the field, but it didn't really turn out that way," McIlroy said.

"A few too many mistakes and it was a pretty tricky wind out there. Swirling quite a bit, which made it hard for club selection.

"I was happy with how I finished, I picked up shots in four of the last five holes and I'm still in a good position heading into tomorrow."

Scott, likewise, is in a far better position than he was when his head hit the pillow on Thursday night. Hitting off the 10th tee in the morning, he started his move at the 14th with an eagle three and added two more birdies at the 16th and 18th holes. He picked up another birdie on the front side.

Adam Scott wears a black ribbon on his cap in memory of Australian cricketer Phil Hughes, who died on Thursday. PHOTO: Getty Images Adam Scott wears a black ribbon on his cap in memory of Australian cricketer Phil Hughes, who died on Thursday. PHOTO: Getty Images

"Yesterday I got off to a bad start, in the wind it was tricky and I didn't scramble when I had to early in the round and it was slipping away from me," Scott said.

"Today it didn't start much better, I was scrambling, but I scrambled well, and then all of sudden I made eagle at 14 and momentum was on my side then.

"It's an incredibly different feeling of being two under to two over and about how you feel about the state of your game," he said.

His putting in the opening round was

While Scott’s putting improved markedly from the opening round (25 putts compared with 32 on day one), he would still be hoping his ball-striking improves over the weekend. If he is going to win this Championship, and return to No.2 in the world ranking, he will have to hit more than 50 percent of the fairways, which has been the case thus far around the Jack Nicklaus-designed course.

Leading groups for Round 3 (Times AEDT)

11.17am                Scott Gardiner (NSW) -1, Richard Green (Vic) -2, Rhein Gibson (NSW) -2

11.29am                Adam Scott (Qld) -2, Jake Higginbottom (NSW) -2, Rod Pampling (Qld) -2.

11.41am                Robert Allenby (Vic) -2, Brett Rumford (WA) -3, Geoff Drakeford (Vic) -3.

11.53am                Jordan Spieth (USA) -3, Conrad Shindler (USA) -4, Todd Sinnott (Vic, am) -4.

12.05pm               Adam Crawford (Qld) -4, Rory McIlroy (N.Ire) -4, Greg Chalmers (WA) -5.

* For the full leaderboard, click here