Huntersville, NC – With his maiden voyage to PGA TOUR Q-School on the horizon, former New Mexico Open champion Tim Madigan of Rio Rancho, NM looks poised to make a run through the big tour’s version of golf’s pressure cooker. At the eGolf Tour’s NorthStone Open on Wednesday, Madigan’s putter came alive, delivering five birdies and one eagle en route to a second-round 64, a 36-hole total of 10-under 132, and the overnight lead heading into Thursday’s third and final round.

The NorthStone Open is the 22nd event of the 2012 eGolf Tour season and is being contested this week at NorthStone Country Club in Huntersville, NC.

Madigan entered day two at 3-under for the week following a Tuesday 68 that put him four shots off the 18-hole lead. Starting on the front nine of the P.B. Dye-designed NorthStone course, the easygoing Madigan went to work early with a birdie at the straightaway par-4 first and another at the par-5 sixth to move to 5-under for the tournament. At the reachable par-5 eighth, a flawless second shot left the 23-year-old eGolf Tour rookie with a strong look at eagle to move to 4-under for his round.

“I missed the fairway with my tee shot, but hit a good 5-wood to the middle of the green and it took the slope perfectly down to about 12 feet from the hole,” said Madigan. “It was a straightforward putt, and I was able to convert that for the three.”

The eagle took him to 8-under for the day and, at the time, in a tie for the lead. A birdie at the par-4 10th pushed him to 9-under for the week, but it was a clutch par save at the tough par-4 12th that really kept his round going.

“I missed the green on 12 and hit a bad chip to about 15 feet, but luckily made the par putt to really keep my round going,” he said. “That was kind of the story today – nothing great with the irons, it was just the putter all day long.”

A birdie at 13 led to another birdie at 16, and suddenly Madigan was 7-under on his round with two holes to play. Closing pars at the arduous par-3 17th and par-4 18th gave him a second-round 64, and a 36-hole total of 10-under 132.

“I got up-and-down a lot and made a lot of really good putts to keep the round going,” Madigan said of his 7-under effort. “I putted fantastic today.”

His solid day on the greens has Madigan on the precipice of his first eGolf Tour title, and his second title as a professional, dating back to the 2011 New Mexico Open – which just happened to be his first start as a pro. He knows, however, that his competition in the final round will be a bit stiffer that what he faced in his home state’s open.

“Winning this would be fantastic. The course sets up really well for me. It’s not real quirky, it’s just right in front of you,” he said. “To pull off a win in front of this caliber of field would be great. There are so many guys out here who have been great players for so long, it would really mean a lot to me to get a win.”

Much like the rest of the field, Madigan is using the NorthStone Open as a tune-up for PGA TOUR Q-School’s first stage, which begins at a number of sites across the country next week. After bypassing the annual qualifying tournament last year, Madigan will venture to PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, FL for his first crack at one of golf’s most grueling tests.

“My game is getting a lot better. The variation in shots is better, so I’m just trying to be more consistent with my putter,” said Madigan, who has now made 11 of 19 cuts on the year with a T4 at the HGM Hotels Classic at Rock Barn this past June serving as his best finish.

“I have very high expectations about Q-School,” he continued. “My dad and I have talked about it for this entire year, and we feel really good about my chances. I feel like I can make it all the way through to the PGA TOUR. I actually expect it.”

When Madigan burst onto the professional scene with his New Mexico Open victory, he carried a two-shot lead into the final round – much as he will do on Thursday.

“It’s the same situation as I was in before,” he said. “Hopefully we can add a second win tomorrow.”

Tied for second, two shots behind Madigan at 8-under 134, are Matt Schall of Williamsport, PA and Phillip Mollica of Anderson, SC.

Schall, the tournament’s 18-hole leader after a 7-under 64 on Tuesday, began his second round on the back nine with five consecutive pars before posting a bogey-birdie-bogey stretch on Nos. 15 through 17 to turn at 1-over 36.

Birdies on Nos. 3 and 8 took the former University of Maryland golfer to 1-under for his round, where he finished for a second-round 70.

Schall has played the eGolf Tour full-time this year after spending the past few seasons playing various mini-tours. In 2010, he spent a year away from competition and on the bag for former Maryland teammate Bobby MacWhinnie, who was then a member of the Web.com Tour. Schall has now made six of 16 cuts on the year, with his lone top-10 coming at the River Landing Open in July – a T10.

Mollica entered day two just one shot back of Schall on the heels of an opening-round 65. A birdie at the par-4 first took the former Clemson star to 7-under par, but a bogey at the reachable par-5 sixth dropped him back to even par. A birdie at the par-5 eighth gave the two-time Monroe Invitational champion a 35 on the turn, while a lone back-nine birdie at the par-3 13th left him at 2-under 69 for the day.

The 8-under start to his week was more good play for Mollica, who entered the week with top-25 finishes in his last two starts.

After notching his first win at the eGolf Tour’s El Jadida Classic in Morocco in March of 2011, Mollica opened 2012 with seven consecutive missed cuts before posting back-to-back top-20 finishes to end the drought. He has posted seven top-25 finishes on the year.

In solo-fourth place is Brad Iles, who has notched rounds of 70-65—135 to reach 7-under with 18 holes to play, just three shots back of Madigan’s lead.

Iles, a native of New Zealand with 100 career starts and two runner-up finishes on the Web.com Tour, had the best round of the morning wave on Wednesday, carding seven birdies and a bogey at the par-4 10th en route to a 6-under 65. The bogey at 10 came courtesy of a penalty for a ball that moved from address while on the putting green – he was otherwise bogey-free on the day.

Iles’ week began in less-than-ideal fashion with double-bogeys on two of his first three holes to open up Tuesday’s first round. He recovered with a six-birdie effort that left him with a first-round 70, then bounced back admirably with Wednesday’s 65.

Tim O’Neal of Savannah, GA, Harold Varner of Gastonia, NC, Stephan Jaeger of Munich, Germany and Mikel Martinson of Lubbock, TX are tied for fifth, four shots off the lead at 6-under 136.

The 36-hole cut fell at 1-under 141, with 43 players making it through to the final round. Final-round play in the NorthStone Open will begin at 8:00 AM on Thursday morning at NorthStone Country Club. The tournament is open to the public and free of charge.