Murray moves freely on #NZOpen

The Australian Zach Murray takes a lead of five shots to the weekend on the 100th New Zealand Open, but the local Kiwi favorite Ryan Fox is out to beat him.

Murray continued where he had left in the opening round, relieving himself from part of the evening's lead, condemning his rookie professional status.

An eagle bird attack helped the 21-year-old to a 7-under 65 in The Hills to be 15-under for the tournament, which will be based on The Hills for the final two rounds.

"I did not feel too much pressure, I slept like a baby last night," Murray said.

"You might dare to dream (win this event) but it does not help the cause too much, you know what is at the end of the four days, but I play well.

"I love The Hills, I think it's a bit better than Millbrook, I read the greens this week and roll up the putts nicely."

Japanese Ryuko Tokimatsu returns five shots in a straight second after a neat 69 in Millbrook Resort during his second visit to Queenstown.

"I thought I would come here if there was a chance because I do not have as many chances to play around the world," Tokimatsu said.

"The course in New Zealand is completely different from Japan, but I also want to do my best tomorrow."

The Japanese Kodai Ichihara leads the chase package 9-on the map, including New Zealanders Fox and Harry Bateman and the Australian pair Brad Kennedy and Dimitrios Papadatos, both former New Zealand Open champions.

Playing the Hills, Fox tied three birdies together on the back-9 to set up a business for the weekend before setting a speed bump on the 17th.

"The goal today was to give myself a chance at the weekend," said Fox.

"It felt like we played all the holes in the wind today and I hit a lot of good photos in the background-9.

"Obviously I had a hitch on 17 probably with a bad decision with the second shot more than anything else." It was nice to bounce back with a birdie on 18 "

Helps him to show him the way, Fox has the famous caddy Steve Williams working with him while the couple are both looking for a New Zealand Open title.

"I have the best bagman in the world with me and he keeps you very well in the moment and we did well today", added Fox

"I found something on the assortment last night and wore it and hit some very good iron shots today.

"I remained largely in trouble, except that I had Steve (Williams) make a few too many bunkers."

Kennedy, winner at Clearwater Resort in Christchurch in 2011, was happy that his flat stick at Millbrook worked when he poured eight birdies.

& # 39; I did a fantastic job today. Yesterday I did a bad job and gave myself a talk with Yesterday evening and managed to turn it around, "he said.

"The key is all about your wedges, I've worked on a blueprint of what's needed to be competitive and it's pretty much wedges and wells, if I can convert a certain percentage of it every day, there's no reason why I can not be competitive and can make a good score every day. "

Papadatos, who claimed his first professional victory at the 2014 New Zealand Open, was initially happy to play in Queenstown, but will now have lofty ambitions after a 5-under-66 at Millbrook.

"I have a convulsive wrist injury, it flared up in the last four or five days, and I had to stop in the practice round on Wednesday after two holes, so it did not look very good.

"I did not think I would play when I was at the Champions Dinner on Wednesday night and I saw all the names and all the history behind it, so there is a bit more at stake this week, so winning for a second time would be pretty special.

"I had a few swings in the hotel room and told my caddy that I did not know why I was making the effort to go to the course."