QUEENSTOWN, New Zealand, March 1, 2013 (AFP) - The 33-year-old fired a second round five under par 67 to grab a share of the halfway lead at 10 under par, alongside Aussie duo Scott Strange and Aaron Townsend.
The leaders are one shot clear of another trio, with Kiwis Gareth Paddison and Michael Long sharing fourth place with another Australian in Rohan Blizard.
Hendry actually held the outright lead at 11 under par at one stage, after a blistering front nine which included five birdies. However a bogey on 11 and a double bogey on 14 halted his progress, before two late birdies rescued his round.
Hendry says the 14th was purely a case of picking the wrong club.
"We had the yardage and were comfortable that a nine iron wasn’t going to go too far and we thought wedge wasn’t going to get over the bunker. We hit nine iron and as it was it was a club too much and it just ended up in a really tough spot."
His misjudgement could have been worse but for a spot of good fortune.
"It was right up against a tree but I was lucky as well. There was a little irrigation hose sticking out of the ground that it was basically resting against so I managed to get a free drop from there."
On the whole, Hendry is reasonably happy with his first two days, although there is still room for improvement.
"I’m hitting my fair share of good shots. I’d just like to hit it a bit better off the tee and maybe find the irons a little crisper as well - it’s close but it’s not quite there."
Scott Strange also got off to a hot start, eventually firing a 7-under 65.
"The whole front nine I pretty much could have birdied or eagled - I played it pretty nice," said Strange.
"I shot it in 6-under so I was pretty happy with that and then coming on the front nine which was my back nine I played pretty solid again."
"I probably could have done something on most of the holes but 7-under for the day is pretty good."
Aaron Townsend felt today lacked momentum but was happy to walk off the course having maintained his position on the leaderboard, after also sharing the lead on day one.
"It wasn’t as easy as yesterday; it was a bit flat out there today. I was playing in a two ball so momentum was a bit slow but I am happy to be in the position that I am," said Townsend.
"When you are in the lead after two rounds you have to take a bit of confidence from that but there is still a long way to go so I won’t get too excited."
The second round cut was made at 1-under the card with 70 Professionals making it through to the weekend rounds of the PGA Tour of Australasia tournament.
The biggest names to fall on the wrong side of the cut were 12 time Japan Tour winner Brendan Jones and three time US Open Champion Hale Irwin.
However Hale Irwin can still be seen in action tomorrow as he tees it up as a celebrity guest during the pro-am aspect of the tournament.
After competing in a seeding tournament at Millbrook today, 68 amateurs will join the Professionals at The Hills for the final two rounds in a two-ball, best ball teams event for a bonus NZ$50,000 prize purse.
Celebrity golfers in the field this year include golfers Lydia Ko and Sir Bob Jones, cricketers Sir Ian Botham and Barry Richards, rugby greats George Gregan, Nick Farr-Jones and Justin Marshall, Olympic rowing champion Mahe Drysdale and Australian media personality Deborah Hutton