Japan's Hideto Tanihara will take a two-shot lead into the final day of the New Zealand Open in Arrowtown tomorrow.
The 11-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour carded an excellent 9-under-par 63 in the third round at The Hills today, putting him in prime position to win the $1 million Open.
His third round followed the 69 he shot at The Hills in the first round on Thursday, and the impressive 5-under-par 66 he fired at Millbrook yesterday.
At 17-under-par, Tanihara, whose latest round included nine birdies and a lovely eagle on the par-5 13th, put his round down to the almost perfect conditions.
"Yes I have a two-shot lead, but I think tomorrow a lot of it will depend on the weather and if that will influence my score," he said.
"If it's windy, I could struggle to extend the score from there. Otherwise, if there is no wind, I'm hoping I have a good chance to do even better tomorrow."
Australian Matthew Griffin is two shots back, but five shots separate him and the chasing pack, which includes Kiwi Steven Alker and Japan's Shunsuke Sonoda.
Alker, who went into the third round in fourth place at 6-under-par, is the leading Kiwi but trails Tanihara by seven shots at 10-under-par.
The 44-year-old stated the day by birdieing three of the first five holes, but only managed one more the rest of the way around to finish with a 4-under-par 68.
"In the end, it was a little frustrating," Alker said when asked about his round.
"I got a nice start and hit a couple of putts early but just didn't kick on with the round. I gave myself a lot of chances today, so it was a little disappointing.
"But overall it's still a 68. I've lost some ground, obviously the guys behind me [Tanihara and Griffin] were shooting lights out."
Despite the tall challenge ahead, Alker is remaining positive because he knows golfers have shot scores in the low 60s at The Hills in the past.
Griffin, who was tied for the lead with Tanihara and fellow Australian Deyon Lawson at the start of the day, shot a 7-under-par 65.
Alker, Sonoda and Korea's IJ Jang are all tied at 10-under, followed by Australians Adam Blyth (9-under) and James Nitties (8-under).
After carding two rounds of 71 at Millbrook and The Hills the past two days, Kiwi Michael Hendry lit up the back nine by bagging six birdies to finish 7-under-par for a share of 10th.
Hendry flirted with missing the cut yesterday, but showed his class today to have an outside chance tomorrow.
"I'm going to have to go really low tomorrow," he said immediately after his round.
Despite shooting a "really solid round", Hendry was left frustrated after finishing with a bogey.
"Unfortunately, that bogey at the end takes me one further back, which is a little frustrating going into tomorrow. Hopefully I can make them up quick."
Hendry also rued a series of missed opportunities during his first two rounds, before his game finally clicked this afternoon.
"I just got hot there for a while, which was good. I had to wait for it a little bit this week. I've hit a lot of really good shots but the putts just haven't been dropping."
Fellow Kiwi Mark Brown is tied for 20th at 5-under-par, while pre-tournament favourite Ryan Fox is tied for 26th at 4-under-par.
