Steve Orme at Coolum, Sportal
Tournament leader Matt Griffin is confident he can hold off a star-studded chasing pack over the final two rounds of the Australian PGA Championship at the revamped Coolum layout.
The 26-year-old carded a three-under 68 in tricky afternoon conditions on Friday to top a crowded leaderboard by a solitary stroke heading into the weekend.
Proven winners Stuart Appleby and Geoff Ogilvy head the chasing pack at six-under par while last-start winners Robert Allenby and Adam Scott are poised to strike a further two strokes back.
"I know I can play well enough," a confident Griffin said on Friday.
"I'm leading after two days so there is no reason why I can't win so I'll be gunning for that."
"It's really exciting. To be in the final groups at a big tournament in Australia probably since I was about five has been my dream so to be able to do that will be a lot of fun."
"I think I will be really nervous tomorrow, I don't know how much sleep I'll get tonight but the most important thing I think is just to enjoy it. I enjoyed it out there today so I'll try and do that again."
When asked to assess his polished second-round performance, he added: "I played great, the wind has been really tricky out there so I have struck the ball really well and I haven't made many mistakes."
"Luckily on the first day we didn't get much wind but today we probably had the tee time that got most of the wind being right in the middle."
"The wind was all over the place out there."
Griffin has made a strong start to his career since entering the professional ranks 14 months ago, retaining his playing privileges on the Asian Tour by finishing 63rd on the money list.
He also posted his maiden professional victory with an 11-shot victory in the 2009 Fiji Open in June.
"That is a big confidence boost to know you can do it I guess," he said of his first professional win.
"I will definitely draw on those things that will give me good confidence. In the end it's winning a golf tournament - this is a lot bigger ... but you have got to do the same thing."
"I'll stick to the same strategy I did the first two days. I think I've started to work the course out ... there are so many good players in the field that I'm going to have to shoot at least a similar score on the weekend as what I've done now."