Anstiss sits tied for 22nd after hitting a 70 around The Hills yesterday to be on a 5-under 138 after two rounds.
Anstiss shares the same score as major winner Geoff Ogilvy, though the pair are 10 shots behind leader Zach Murray.
The 23-year-old Anstiss mixed four birdies with two bogeys at Millbrook, more importantly scoring a birdie on the par-5 17th hole, to get in front of a bunch of players on 4-under.
Ben Campbell, also of Queenstown, had a mixed day but managed to squeeze into the final two days.
Campbell started on 1-under after battling around Millbrook on Thursday.
He started well and hit three birdies in his first three holes only to hit a double bogey to send him reeling backwards and on the outside looking in.
But he managed a birdie on the par-5 13th and then backed that up with another birdie on the next hole to put him at 3-under to make the cut.
Fraser MacLachlan, another Queenstown player, could not get anything going at Millbrook and ended up on 7-over, well short of the cut.
In the pro-am round, Otago women's amateur No1, Laura Hoskin, teamed up with Michael Long to recorded 9-under for two rounds after playing on Millbrook yesterday. The pair did not make the cut for the team tournament.
Meanwhile, it was raining holes in one at the Open yesterday, with three of them on the two courses.
Australian Damien Jordan bagged his on the second hole at Millbrook, hitting a pitching wedge on the 139m hole in the morning.
That was followed shortly afterwards by Thai golfer Natipong Srithong nailing an ace on the 16th hole at The Hills.
Then in the late afternoon, fellow Thai player Poom Saksansin scored another ace on the second hole at Millbrook.
His ace did not help Srithong, who failed to make the cut. Jordan just scraped in on 3-under while Saksansin finished on 7-under and is handy enough to the lead.
