Part of a three-way tie for the lead overnight, birdies at each of his opening two holes put Ancer in a front-running position early on day three at The Grange Golf Club.

Yet as he endured a frustrating run of nine straight pars, 2023 Australian Open champion Niemann made his move.

After an early birdie of his own at the par-3 third, the Torque GC captain closed out his front nine with three birdies in his final four holes. He completed a bogey-free 7-under 65 with birdies at 12, 15 and finally a superb up-and-down after driving it into the greenside bunker at the par-4 18th.

Niemann finished the three rounds at 13-under par, three clear of Ancer (71) and Carlos Ortiz (71) with David Puig (67) outright fourth at 9-under par.

“Man, I love it,” Niemann said of his impressive record in Australia.

“I’m starting to feel the chills now because I didn’t want to get out of that game rhythm because you never know what can happen on the last one. But now for the relief, and man, it feels awesome.”

Ancer and Puig were part of the Fireballs GC team captained by Sergio Garcia that claimed a dominant six-stroke win in the teams event as an early Ripper GC charge could not be sustained over the final nine holes.

Trailing by nine heading into Sunday’s final round, Ripper GC moved into fifth in the teams event on the back of captain Cameron Smith.

Smith was the hottest player on course with an eagle and two birdies in his opening four holes of Round 3 and was 5-under on his round when he birdied the par-4 15th.

But that was where Smith’s forward momentum ended as he made three bogeys in the space of four holes to sign for a 2-under 70 and 30th for the week, Ripper GC ninth at 1-under par.

“I scrambled really well the first day to kind of stay in the tournament, and then the last couple of days I actually did a lot of good stuff and just couldn’t really keep on top of it, keep the momentum going,” admitted Smith.

“I hit a lot of good shots that ended up in bad spots, and it was one of those weeks where you had to be really patient.

“Obviously being home, you’re always pushing, and perhaps that got us out of the tournament.  That’s the only thing I can really think of.”

Marc Leishman had three birdies in his round of 2-under 70 to lead the way for Ripper GC in a tie for 21st, Lucas Herbert (75) and Matt Jones (73) finishing tied for 31st and 44th respectively.

LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN

Individual
1          Joaquin Niemann (Torque GC)  67-71-65—203
T2        Carlos Ortiz (Torque GC)           67-68-71—206
T2        Abraham Ancer (Fireballs GC)   68-67-71—206
4          David Puig (Fireballs GC)          70-70-67—207
5          Richard Bland (Cleeks GC)        69-73-66—208

Australians
T21      Marc Leishman (Ripper GC)      73-70-70—213
30        Cameron Smith (Ripper GC)     72-73-70—215
T31      Lucas Herbert (Ripper GC)        71-70-75—216
44        Matt Jones (Ripper GC)            75-71-73—219
50        Wade Ormsby (Iron Heads GC) 79-71-75—225

Team
1          Fireballs GC      -21
2          Legion XIII       -15
3          Torque GC        -13
9          Ripper GC        -1