Ex-airport worker flies into Open lead

But a "flukey" chip-in birdie on his last hole of the second round at The Lakes has McCardle feeling the golf gods are firmly on his side.

Having teed off on the 10th on Friday, two closing birdies propelled McCardle into a share of the lead with South Korea's Byeong Hun An - who also had a stroke of luck with a hole-in-one at the par-3 15th.

With An (69) in the clubhouse at eight under, McCardle's ball came to rest next to a greenside bunker at the par-3 ninth.

But the 33-year-old South Australian used his putter to hole out for a birdie two.

"It was a bit of a fluke, I had no stance and had to chop a putter down on it

"I wanted to get it to six feet and it went in. It was pretty cool."

The world No.1062 has spent the previous year plying his trade on the PGA Tour China.

Despite consistent results, he missed out on a promotion to the American secondary Web.com Tour and headed back for the Australian summer events.

Playing his ninth consecutive golf tournament in a gruelling 10-week schedule, McCardle says it still pales in comparison to working as a dock hand at Adelaide airport earlier in his career.

"I grew up little town called Goolwa, South Australia, and I left halfway through year 12 to do a mechanical apprenticeship before I made the move to Adelaide to give golf a go," he said.

"I was doing golf fulltime during the day and working for Toll Priority as a dock-hand (at night) shifting freight to pay my bills."

McCardle has spent the past 18 months working with the same mental coach as fellow Australian Lucas Herbert, who is enjoying a breakout year on the European Tour.

It's why McCardle is backing himself to perform on the weekend rounds of Australia's premier golf tournament.

"I feel pretty good. I'm sure there will be nerves tomorrow but I'm relaxed," he said.

Australian Associated Press