Wade Ormsby will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the ISPS Handa Vic Open after testing third-day conditions at 13th Beach Golf Club.
High winds and some heavy rain made life difficult for the field, but Ormsby recovered from an early double-bogey to shoot a two-under par 70 and move to 15 under.
Fellow Australian Matthew Stieger, who recorded the round of the day with a 65, and Callum Shinkwin are two shots back — the Englishman having signed for a 66.
Challenge Tour graduate David Law, South African Justin Harding and Australia’s Brad Kennedy are three shots behind Ormsby.
Paul Dunne meanwhile is a stroke further back on 11 under par, and remains in contention heading into the final day’s play, following a third round of 70.
Gavin Moynihan also shot a two under par 70 on Saturday but he is a further four shots back on seven under par.
“It was just tough out there. I just kept grinding, really, that’s all we can do in weather like that,” Ormsby was quoted as saying on www.europeantour.com
“You’re going to hit a lot of bad shots, need to recover a lot and I did that quite well so I’m happy.
“I feel good. I’m pretty relaxed this week, I’m treating it as a bit of a holiday.”
Ormsby, who claimed his maiden title at the 264th time of asking at last season’s Hong Kong Open, surrendered a double-bogey when he found a terrible lie on the par-five second.
But birdies at the fifth, ninth, 13th and 18th gave the 38-year-old from Adelaide some breathing space heading into the final round.
Overnight leader Jason Scrivener struggled with a 76 to tumble down the leaderboard and into tenth spot.
In the women’s event, American leader Kim Kaufman had a late stumble to card a 75.
Kaufman takes a two-shot lead into the final round over France’s Celine Boutier, who matched the lowest round of the day with a 69, and home favourite Su Oh.
Leona Maguire meanwhile is in a share of 44th place, after a third round of 74 left her on two over par for the tournament - 12 off Kaufman’s lead.
Collated third round scores and totals in the ISPS HANDA Vic Open (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
201 Wade Ormsby (Aus) 65 66 70
203 Matthew Stieger (Aus) 71 67 65, Callum Shinkwin 64 73 66
204 David Law 67 66 71, Justin Harding (Rsa) 67 71 66, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 67 65 72
205 Paul Dunne 69 66 70, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 66 71 68, David Bransdon (Aus) 69 69 67
206 Jason Scrivener (Aus) 64 66 76, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 68 70 68, Aaron Townsend (Aus) 69 69 68, David Drysdale 66 69 71, Grant Forrest 65 69 72, Nick Flanagan (Aus) 62 68 76, Blake Windred (a) (Aus) 70 67 69
207 Anton Karlsson (Swe) 65 69 73, Clement Sordet (Fra) 69 64 74, Jarryd Felton (Aus) 71 68 68, Daniel Gavins 68 68 71
208 Daniel Nisbet (Aus) 68 70 70, Ashley Chesters 68 67 73, Nick Cullen (Aus) 66 67 75
209 Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 71 68 70, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 69 70 70, Matthew Nixon 71 68 70, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 66 72 71, Steven Jeffress (Aus) 69 69 71, Aaron Rai 67 69 73, Jason Norris (Aus) 66 71 72, Gavin Moynihan 67 72 70, James Anstiss (Aus) 64 71 74, David Micheluzzi (a) (Aus) 67 68 74, Matthew Griffin (Aus) 65 69 75, Michael Hoey 66 68 75, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 70 66 73
210 Sihwan Kim (Kor) 71 68 71, Hugo Leon (USA) 64 72 74, Michael Sim (Aus) 66 70 74, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 66 68 76, Andrew Evans (Aus) 68 67 75, Stuart Manley 66 71 73, Dylan Perry (Aus) 68 71 71, Peter Lonard (Aus) 66 72 72, Lucas Herbert (Aus) 65 69 76, Yuta Ikeda (Jpn) 66 71 73, Adam Burdett (Aus) 72 67 71, Scott Vincent (Zim) 68 70 72
211 Darren Beck (Aus) 67 70 74, Kristoffer Reitan (Nor) 72 67 72, Richard Green (Aus) 72 66 73, Connor Syme 71 67 73, Austin Connelly (Can) 70 68 73, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 67 71 73, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 68 70 73
212 Espen Kofstad (Nor) 71 65 76, Robert Macintyre 67 70 75, Louis De Jager (Rsa) 67 69 76, Sam Brazel (Aus) 69 69 74, James Morrison 68 69 75, Kim Koivu (Fin) 66 72 74
213 Matt Jager (Aus) 66 66 81, Dale Williamson (Aus) 68 71 74, Michael Long (Nzl) 66 73 74, Michael Hendry (Nzl) 68 66 79, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 70 69 74, James Nitties (Aus) 64 74 75
214 Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 67 71 76, Andrew Martin (Aus) 68 71 75, Taylor MacDonald (Aus) 68 70 76, Ashley Hall (Aus) 71 66 77
215 Scott Hend (Aus) 69 67 79, Andre Lautee (a) (Aus) 65 72 78, Aaron Pike (Aus) 66 70 79, Max McCardle (Aus) 68 71 76
216 Kurt Kitayama (USA) 64 74 78
217 Jordan Mullaney (Aus) 67 69 81
218 Peter Cooke (Aus) 65 71 82, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 69 70 79
