New Zealander Gareth Paddison has extended his lead at the Victorian PGA Championship at the Heritage Golf and Country Club.
Firing a six-under-par 66 in the third round, Paddison is 15-under the card and leads by two shots from Victorian amateur Ben Eccles and New South Welshman Jamie Arnold.
A further shot back again on 12-under are Michael Hendry (NZ) and Alex Hawley, who both shot bogey-free rounds of 66.
Paddison, who who won the title in 2011, is happy with the way he is playing.
“To get another win under the belt would be amazing because that would be number five on the PGA Tour of Australasia.
“It would be a massive confidence boost going into the next three events.”
“The game is feeling pretty good but there is still a lot of golf to be played and a lot of good players chasing me.”
With the first three rounds played in hot temperatures, the Wellington Professional is hoping that the wind picks up on Sunday.
“In the wind, I am pretty good. I don’t hit it overly high and a punch shot is my preferred,” added Paddison.
“If the wind is up, then even par or a couple under could be a good score. It will be interesting to see how it all fairs out tomorrow.”
Eccles is feeling comfortable among the professionals and believes he has the game to take the title.
“I like the competition. It gives me a benchmark to work towards – I really enjoyed it today,” said Eccles.
“With the way that I am playing, I definitely feel like I could win tomorrow.”
Kim Felton charged up the leaderboard courtesy of his course record-equalling round of eight-under 64.
“I hit eight birdies and no bogeys. There wasn’t too much trouble out there,” said Felton who is tied 13th.
“Some days, probably one a year, it feels easy – the rest are tough.”
“The last few days have been ordinary so it’s nice to play well on a Saturday and move up the leaderboard.”
Steve Jones provided the highlight of the day with an albatross on the par-5 15th, but the Victorian professional finished with a bogey and quadruple bogey dropping him to tied 32nd.
The final round will tee off tomorrow at 7am (AEDT) with the leaders on course at 8.40am.
