An even-par 72 was good enough to keep Richard Green in the hunt, as many players went backwards on day two of The Senior Open Championship presented by Rolex at Carnoustie.

The Victorian is in a share of third place at 3-under, three shots back of leader K.J Choi from Korea.

New Zealander Steven Alker is a few shots back at even-par, while Australians Scott Hend and Greg Chalmers find themselves together at 3-over.

In total, 13 of the Australasian contingent made the cut, with four Australians and Fijian Vijay Singh sadly missing out on the weekend.

Green had somewhat of a horrid run in the middle of his round, carding four straight bogeys from holes eight through 11.

The tall lefthander bounced back quickly though, with an eagle at 12, and a further birdie at 14 to get his round back to even.

Canadian Stephen Ames, who is solo second behind Choi, talked to the conditions after his Friday round.

"I think it was a bit tougher today, this morning, than it was yesterday afternoon," said Ames.

"A lot more blustery. It was more going for the middle of the greens, 25-, 30-footers. It was tough to make birdies from there.

"They did a good job of tucking the pins. It was obviously a bit more difficult to get birdies out there."

Australasian scores

T3 Richard Green -3

T11 Steven Alker (NZ) E

T21 Scott Hend +3

T21 Greg Chalmers +3

T28 Michael Campbell (NZ) +4

T33 Peter Fowler +5

T49 John Senden +6

T49 Rod Pampling +6

T60 Michael Long (NZ) +7

T60 Michael Wright +7

T60 David McKenzie +7

T60 Jason Norris +7

MC Peter O'Malley +9

MC Vijay Singh (FIJI) +11

MC Steve Allan +11

MC Stuart Appleby +12

WD Mark Hensby