Smylie looked like building a big buffer heading into Sunday’s final round but had to settle for a share of the lead through 54 holes after a bogey, double-bogey finish in a round of 2-under 70.

Joining Smylie at 12-under is course record holder Cameron John (66), who is hunting a second straight Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia win, while West Australian rookie Jordan Doull (67) can record a maiden victory just five months after joining the pro ranks.

Now in his fourth year as a professional, a breakthrough win is again tantalisingly within reach for the 22-year-old Smylie.

Five-under through 16 holes of his third round, a tricky chip from left of the green at the par-3 17th saw the Queenslander drop to 14-under-par and then a wayward tee shot that nestled in the desert debris led to a double-bogey at the par-5 18th.

As a result, Smylie finds himself in a three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard with Brett Rankin (67), Jack Buchanan (68) and Will Florimo (68) all now just one stroke off the lead.

“This is why I practise, and the fact that I get to put myself in a position like that again tomorrow, it’s only going to help me improve, not only as a golfer, but as a player,” said Smylie.

“I’m taking the positives out of today’s round heading into tomorrow. There was lots of good stuff. I made a lot of great putts when I needed to.

“Perhaps just a bit of a mental switch off on the last tee shot and I got into a bad position and then that led to a poor decision for my second shot and so on.

“But there’s lots of good stuff and my game feels great.”

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After getting out of position with his tee shot on 18, Smylie went from bad to worse when his punch-out 7-iron went from one side to the other and coming to rest under a shrub.

He and caddie Andrew Evans were left with little option but to take a drop for an unplayable lie, Smylie unable to get up-and-down for bogey from right of the 18th green.

“I thought the 7-iron was going to come out a little bit softer,” Smylie admitted.

“The reason why I hit the 7-iron was because there were trees overhanging that I wanted to keep under.

“Just little decisions like that, obviously I would’ve liked to have over, but I think there’s lots of positives to take out of today.”

Winner of the season-ending National Tournament in March, John was leading the DP World Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland just eight days ago.

He ultimately finished in a tie for 54th at St Andrews but says the experience of holding the 36-hole lead will hold him in good stead on Sunday.

“I feel like I got an extra week in the schedule, something massive to lead into these Aussie events and I played really well,” said John, who shares the Kalgoorlie course record of 9-under 63 with 2023 champion Ben Eccles.

“I took a lot of confidence playing with some of the best players in the world and being able to sort of tick that box. Play really well, give myself a chance going into the weekend to win.”

He is in position to win again after a 66 on Saturday that culminated with four birdies in his final five holes, a position he perhaps didn’t expect given the travel required to tee it up at all.

“First day I was pretty much half asleep,” said the 25-year-old Victorian.

“Second day it got a little bit better. Jet lag, wasn’t so bad.

“It was a long, long journey back to Kalgoorlie, but it’s definitely been worth it so far.”

The CKB WA PGA presented by TX Civil & Logistics is live on Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo. Broadcast of the final round will begin at 2pm AEDT.

Photo: Alex Verhagen/PGA of Australia