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Perth - Australia's Brett Rumford opened up a two-shot lead after the second round of World Super 6 Perth as former winners Thorbjorn Olesen and Louis Oosthuizen made their moves at Lake Karrinyup on Friday.
Perth native Rumford followed up his opening 66 with a 65 to get to 13 under and lead from countryman David Bransdon with another Australian Steven Jeffress a further shot back in the European Tour event.
Rumford had shared the overnight lead with Englishman Mark Foster, who dropped back to five under after a second round 73.
While Rumford looked the one to beat in the new format Super 6 event, South African Oosthuizen and Dane Olesen kept in contention.
Oosthuizen, the 2011 British Open winner and three-time major runner-up, carded a four-under 68, while Olesen had a five-under 67 to lurk six strokes off the halfway lead.
The top 24 players after Saturday's third round will progress to the six-hole match play knockout phase, with the top eight of those receiving a bye into the last-16.
Rumford is in a comfortable position to make it into Sunday's final day but he will not be taking his foot off the pedal and is aiming to earn himself a spot as one of the top eight seeds.
"Oh, 100 percent, definitely," he said. "That's one less lottery round you have to deal with, isn't it?
"So that's definitely a huge bonus qualifying inside that top eight. It's definitely something I am thinking about.
"For any players, that's why it's going to be so unique and so interesting as well.
"There's sort of cuts within cuts this week and if you're not thinking about it, maybe it's a good thing, maybe a bad thing, I'm not too sure, but definitely the top eight is where you want to be."
Rumford birdied the first hole and produced the shot of the day from the trees in making par on the fourth before reeling off five consecutive birdies from the sixth.
He holed from 15 feet on the sixth, got up and down from sand on the seventh, put his tee-shot to four feet on the next and two smart approaches got him to 12 under.
A 30-footer from the fringe on the 13th was followed by a bogey but he bounced back with another gain on the next to re-establish his cushion.
Oosthuizen said he likes his chances when it comes to the match play component of the tournament.
"Match play is a completely different ball game. You play them in and I'm looking forward to it," he said.
"If I have a good day tomorrow (Saturday) I can be in the top eight, but if not (it's) one more round that I need to focus."
Leading second-round scores from the EPGA/Asian Tour's World Super 6 Perth tournament at Lake Karrinyup in Perth on Friday (par-72):
131 - Brett Rumford (AUS) 66-65
133 - David Bransdon (AUS) 69-64
134 - Steven Jeffress (AUS) 68-66
135 - Lucas Herbert (AUS) 67-68, Johannes Veerman (USA)
67-68
136 - Matthew Millar (AUS) 71-65, Adam Blyth (AUS) 67-69,
Daniel Fox (AUS) 67-69, Sebastian Heisele (GER) 67-69
137 - Duncan Stewart (SCO) 72-65, Casey O'Toole (USA) 67-70,
Josh Younger (AUS) 68-69, Ryan Fox (NZL) 69-68, Ryan Evans (ENG) 69-68, Louis
Oosthuizen (RSA) 69-68, Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN) 70-67
138 - Michael Long (NZL) 69-69, Hideto Tanihara (JPN) 67-71,
Jordan Smith (ENG) 68-70, Thomas Detry (BEL) 71-67, Austin Connelly (CAN)
69-69, Jeev Milkha Singh (IND) 70-68, Robert Allenby (AUS) 69-69, Nick Cullen
(AUS) 69-69, Jason Scrivener (AUS) 67-71
139 - Jake Higginbottom (AUS) 69-70, S.S.P.Chawrasia (IND)
71-68, Taylor Macdonald (AUS) 68-71, Mark Foster (ENG) 66-73, Pavit
Tangkamolprasert (THA) 68-71, Wu Ashun (CHN) 72-67, Chiragh Kumar (IND) 70-69
140 - Ben Eccles (AUS) 71-69, Adam Bland (AUS) 71-69, Prom Meesawat (THA) 70-70, Phachara Khongwatmai (THA) 68-72, Natipong Srithong (THA) 69-71, Pep Angles (ESP) 68-72, Richard McEvoy (ENG) 71-69, James Heath (ENG) 69-71
