When Dobbelaar (66) made birdie at the difficult par-4 16th for the second straight day he held a four-stroke lead at 18-under par before local hope Sung Jin Yeo (67) produced a spirited fightback to draw within one by day’s end.

Dobbelaar’s bogey at the par-5 17th – his first for the week – opened the door for Yeo, who responded in impressive fashion.

Hailing from North Shore Golf Club just 30 minutes from Gulf Harbour Country Club, Yeo stiffed his approach shot into 17 to an inch. He then birdied the final hole to make up three strokes in the space of two holes and sit one behind Dobbelaar’s three-round total of 17-under par.

Locked together at 11-under at the start of play and three strokes clear of the field, Dobbelaar and Yeo both made birdie at the par-5 second before the Aussie moved one ahead by picking up another shot at the par-4 fourth.

The 21-year-old doubled his advantage with a third birdie at six before Yeo showed tremendous spirit to fight back with birdies of his own at seven and eight to draw level again at 14-under.

The back and forth would continue into the back nine.

Dobbelaar birdied nine to reach 15-under, Yeo responding with his fourth birdie of the day at 10. The pair got to 16-under with matching birdies at the par-5 11th before a two-shot swing on 12 saw momentum clearly turn Dobbelaar’s way. As he cashed in his 17th birdie of the week, Yeo let one slip.

A second bogey at the par-3 15th saw Yeo drop to 14-under as Dobbelaar continued to press forward, a birdie at 16 taking him to 18-under and four shots clear.

That margin would be cut to one just two holes later, Yeo sitting four strokes clear of fellow Kiwi Jordan Loof (67).

Raised in Wellington, Dobbelaar’s father Vince has flown in from Queensland to carry the bag for his son on Sunday, just as he did when Louis won the New Zealand Amateur at Royal Wellington Golf Club seven years ago.

“It would be awesome,” said Dobbelaar as he chases a maiden win on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tur of Australasia.

“I’ll just take one step at a time and keep trying to make birdies and see what happens.

“It’s been a good week here so far. I’m looking forward to one more round.”

Declaring that 52 holes bogey free is likely a personal record, Dobbelaar paid tribute to his unheralded playing partner who is showing no signs of being overawed by the occasion.

“Sung Jin had a really solid finish coming in on the last few windy holes so pretty exciting,” Dobbelaar added.

“I was pretty gutted to make bogey there (on 17) but, in saying that, I was trying to go for it and make a few more birdies coming in. Pretty gutted but I’ve been playing some nice golf so it’s pretty cool.”

In his 10th start on the PGA TOUR of Australasia, Yeo is in uncharted territory having never previously advanced past the second round.

The New Zealand Under-19 champion in 2018 is now eyeing what would be one of the most unlikely victories in the tournament’s storied history.

“It would be an honour to win this event but tomorrow I will think just to play my style again,” Yeo said.

A top-five finisher three times in his rookie year last year, Dobbelaar’s six-under 66 was the low round of the day and makes him the man to beat heading into Sunday’s final round.

Loof moved into outright third at 12-under with a round of five-under 67 while veteran Matthew Griffin (69) is two shots further back in fourth spot.

A two-time winner on the domestic Charles Tour already this year, Loof intends to bring a positive attitude in what he hopes will be a Sunday charge to victory.

“Louis is going absolutely nuts. He’s playing a different golf course to me,” Loof conceded.

“If I can go out there and keep it out of trouble, hit as many greens as I can and give myself as many looks as possible, we’ll see what happens.

“Winning is winning and winning breeds winning. Before this year I’d had one win and then I had two in a month.

“It really gives you a lot more confidence knowing you can actually go out there and get it done.”

Sunday’s final round will commence at 9am local time with Dobbelaar, Yeo and Loof to tee off in the final group at 10.50am NZ time.