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The Master is coming.
Adam Scott has shaken off the rust of his opening round and, by two thirds of the way through his second, was living up to his billing as the man to beat.
The Queenslander had surged up the leaderboard with the equal best non-completed round of the day of -5 after 12 holes, having poured in four birdies and an eagle on the par five 8th hole to be -4 overall.
Scott's putter is starting to come good and he has shown far more control with his other clubs as the wind died down and scoring heated up.
Yet even counting the afternoon rally, Scott was still five shots behind the new outright leader, Michael Wright, who after 15 holes had maintained his clean sheet and added three consecutive birdies through his 13th and 15th holes to move to -9.
That was two shots better than the other big mover of the day, South Australian Paul Spargo (at -7), who had equalled Scott's round of -5 through 15 holes thanks to a run of three birdies through holes 11 to 13.
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Defending champion Adam Scott had made steady progress in the task to reel in those ahead of him at the Australian Masters, knocking two shots off their buffer in the first six holes of his second round.
Scott was looking more dangerous playing the front nine first and in the afternoon groups – the opposite of day one – securing three birdies in the opening third of his round to go from +1 at the start of the day to -1.
His only blemish was a costly bogey on the 476-metre par five 4th, however he quickly followed up with a birdie on the next hole (the par four 5th) and then made light work of the next par five (the 6th), needing only to tap in a birdie after a long tee shot, solid approach and great lag put.
The world No.2 trailed the two co-leaders, Todd Sinnott and Michael Wright, by five strokes, with 22-year-old Sinnott in the clubhouse at -6, while Wright had gone bogey-free through his first nine holes to be -1 for the day and -6 for the tournament.
The other Major winner in the field and one of Scott's playing partners, Geoff Ogilvy, had also continued his charge, having moved to -4 after going -1 through his first six holes – matching Scott's back-to-back birdies on the 5th and 6th.
Earlier, cancer survivor and fan favourite Jarrod Lyle spun off three birdies in his back nine to finish the second round with a 70 (-2) and be within striking distance at -2 overall.
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Rising amateur Todd Sinnott had taken further steps to creating his own piece of history at the Australian Masters, breaking away on the morning of day two to take the outright lead at Metropolitan Golf Club.
The Williamstown-raised youngster completed a solid round of 71 (-1) which took him to -6 for the tournament and passed his three overnight co-leaders – USPGA Tour professional Steven Bowditch and journeymen Michael Wright and Stephen Allan.
Bowditch, who started his round at -5 with his playing partner Sinnott, did not enjoy as much success backing up his terrific opening round, slipping back -2 with a round of 75 (+3).
The focus for this week's event had centred on Adam Scott seeking to become the first player to achieve a "threepeat" at the Masters, and the world No.2 was scheduled to begin his second round at +1 - now seven shots behind Sinnott - at 12.25pm.
As of midway through day two, Sinnott looked just as likely to write his name in the record books as the first amateur ever to win the Australian Masters should he continue his high level play into the weekend.
Bowditch had signalled a big tournament for Sinnott after watching his power off the tee on day one, describing the youngster's ball-striking as "ridiculous" and the longest he had seen a player hit "for a long time".
The 22-year-old showed on day two that there was more to his game than big hitting, punching out four birdies around the testing layout at Metropolitan to keep the pressure on Allan and Wright, who had just begun their second rounds.
Sinnott's round had looked far more impressive until the final three holes, where he dropped shots on the par 3 7th (his 16th) and the par 5 6th (his 17th).
Tasmanian Matthew Goggin and Victorian Matthew Griffin had produced the best rounds of the day to that point, both signing in 69s (-3) to move to a tie for equal third at -4.
