It had been more than 100 days since Royal Port Moresby Golf Club saw a downpour like the one that forced an early suspension of play on Thursday but the sunshine returned on Friday, providing perfect conditions for players to go low in Round 2.

Armstrong did exactly that, making birdie on all four of Royal Port Moresby’s par 3s, a feat only matched twice before in the previous 14,234 rounds on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia.

The 27-year-old cruised through the first few holes before cashing in four times in five holes and quickly shooting up the leaderboard. Two more birdies on his final three holes saw Armstrong post 8-under 64 and 9-under total for 36 holes.

He now takes a narrow advantage into the weekend, one clear of Queensland pair Brett Rankin (66) and Louis Dobbelaar (69), with 2025 champion Cory Crawford (69) a further shot back at 7-under.

With a couple of strong finishes on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series in the off-season, Armstrong says the hard work is starting to pay off.

“I’ve been doing a lot of work on ball-striking and you have to keep it in play around here,” he said.

But an unusual putter tweak may be the secret to Armstrong’s success on Royal Port Moresby’s ‘strong leaf’ greens.

“I put five degrees of loft on my putter instead of the usual three,” said Armstong, who has a career 14 top-10 finishes on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia but is still chasing that elusive first win.

“I thought yesterday it backfired on me but sort of paid dividends today. So that might be the little key.”

A 25-foot putt on his second hole provided an early sign that the adjustment to his Odyssey #1 putter was working.

“I found that you almost need it to ‘skip’ off the putter rather than roll straight away," Armstrong explained.

“It’s the first year I’ve done it. I’ve actually played OK here in the past, but I just hadn’t holed too many putts. It’s nice to see some drop.”

With the first event of the new season offering an early opportunity to build momentum on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, Armstrong already has his sights set on a strong year.

“Everyone’s after the same thing… everyone wants to finish as high up as they can on the Order of Merit, but I’ve got some own little personal goals as well.”

Two of Papua New Guinea’s very own will work on the weekend at their national open, with Gideon Tikili and Cassie Koma sneaking inside the cut-line.

Two shots off the lead after Round 1, Tikili shot 4-over 76 on day two to be in a tie for 36th, Koma fighting back with birdies at each of his final two holes to make the cut on the number.

A two-time winner of the PNG Open, Crawford has made just one bogey across the opening 36 holes and can become the first player to successfully defend a title on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia since Phoenix Campbell won consecutive Queensland PGA championships in 2023 and 2024.

Dobbelaar did little wrong in backing up his round of 5-under 67 in Round 1, making bogeys on 17 and six to go with birdies at 10, 13, three, five and nine for a round of 3-under 69.

It was a step back before Rankin made his charge on Friday morning.

The recently turned 40-year-old made a bogey at the par-5 first but made five birdies and an eagle over his next nine holes as he chases a second Tour win to go with his 2019 NT PGA victory.

A total of 54 players made the cut, while Saturday will also see the opening round of the PNG Women’s Open, where five local PNG players will join nine members of the WPGA Tour of Australasia, including defending champion Amelia Mehmet-Grohn.