The morning groups are wrapping up their rounds with a string of internationals making a stunning charge up the leaderboard in the second round before the likes of Cameron Smith, Lucas Herbert and Minjee Lee take centre stage at Kingston Heath in the afternoon.

Watch every round of the PGA Tour LIVE & Exclusive on Fox Sports, available on Kayo. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer.

Cameron Smith teed off at 12.05pm at Kingston Heath and started his second round with a stunning eagle at the par 5 first hole.

Smith shot -6 on Thursday to start the day two shots back from overnight leader and Ripper GC teammate Herbert, who is playing two groups behind Smith alongside Marc Leishman (-3 after the first round), and has quickly moved up to -9 overall after four holes.

Herbert has also started with a bang, going eagle-birdie-birdie in his first three holes to jump out in front as the solo leader at -12.

In between them is Minjee Lee who battled on Thursday with a +2 first round, and she is facing an up hill battle to make the cut – which is projected at +1 – after an early bogey.

AUS OPEN GOLF LEADERBOARD: Stay up to date with the live scores here

Men’s defending champion Joaquin Niemann and Min Woo Lee attracted strong crowds at Victoria Golf Club as they both walked the tightrope of the cut line.

Chilean LIV Golf star Niemann endured a disappointing +1 opening round on Thursday afternoon but dazzled with six birdies in his first nine holes to be -5 for the day at the turn.

From then on, he was up-and-down, trading bogeys with birdies to stay at that mark for the day, and be -4 for the tournament which should be enjoy to progress to the weekend with the projected cut line sitting at -2 before the afternoon groups tee off.

Lee meanwhile also worked his way through a topsy turvy round to be -3 for the tournament.

The fan favourite received a lot of love from the crowd but still appears to be somewhat hampered by the knee niggle he obtained in Brisbane last week as he made four birdies and two bogeys in a round of 69.

In the group behind them, Hannah Green had her chances to open up a lead but was left to rue a series of missed, short putts as she finished -1 for the day to be -7 for the tournament.

Playing alongside Green was defending champion Ashleigh Buhai who found her groove with a bogey free round after starting the day even par to be 4 overall with the women’s low round of the day so far.

Rookie professional Justice Bosio started the day at -5 and has worked her way into lead at -8 with three holes left to play at Victoria.

Jordan Gumberg is the men’s clubhouse leader, coming in at -9 after a -3 morning round at Kingston Heath.

The American started hot with four birdies on the front nine, and six overall, but a double bogey and a bogey stopped him from opening a greater margin.

“I would think I’m not going to be at the top of the leaderboard at the end of the day,” Gumberg said. “I think someone will get to 10, or 11, maybe even 12 (under).”

China’s Wenyi Ding shot the low round of the day so far with a bogey free -7 effort at Victoria to join overnight leader Lucas Herbert at -8.

The DP World Tour player missed the cut at the Australian PGA Championship last week but has class, having played in the US Open last year, and winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur this year.

The latter victory earned him a start at The Masters and The Open in 2025, but remarkably, he has forfeited those opportunities by turning professional.

READ MORE

LIV star fires after Smith’s early brilliance; Olympian reignites after ‘tough’ $7k year: R1 Wrap‘Put his a** on the line’: Aussie guns respond to Shark axe as LIV stars pay tribute

Smith doubles down on ‘bulls**t excuse’ blow-up as ‘crazy’ Aus Open reality looms

Exclusive: Top LIV star opens up on merger as hopes for PGA crossover revealed

‘All I’ve wanted’: What makes Aus Open’s bold shift special… and why debate still simmers

NOTABLE TEE TIMES – ROUND 2

7:00am AEDT, Tee 10, Victoria – Min Woo Lee, Joaquin Niemann, Jordan Smith

7:11am AEDT, Tee 10, Victoria – Grace Kim, Ashleigh Buhai, Hannah Green

7:22am AEDT, Tee 10, Victoria – Darius van Diel, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, David Micheluzzi

12:05pm AEDT, Tee 1, Kingston Heath – Elvis Smylie, Cameron Smith, Victor Perez

12:11pm AEDT, Tee 10, Victoria – Su Oh, Cassie Porter, Meghan Maclaren

12:16pm AEDT, Tee 1, Kingston Heath – Steph Kyriacou, Minjee Lee, Jiyai Shin

12:27pm AEDT, Tee 1, Kingston Heath – Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert, Yannik Paul

12:49pm AEDT, Tee 11, Kingston Heath – Todd Clements, Cameron Davis, Harry Higgs

For the full list of tee times, tap here!

HOW TO WATCH

Watch all the Australian Open action on Kayo and Foxtel, with every big moment broadcast on Fox Sports channel 503 – which has become a dedicated Australian Open channel for the week.

Coverage begins at 12pm AEDT each day.

FOLLOW ALL THE DAY 2 ACTION OF THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN IN THE BLOG BELOW! Can’t see the blog? Tap here!