While fellow Australian Scott Hend was the big mover in Round 3 – an equal-low round of the day 6-under 64 rocketing the Queenslander 28 spots up the leaderboard into a tie for eighth – Chalmers also made inroads.

A bogey-free 4-under 66 moved Chalmers up six spots into a tie for fourth at 8-under through three rounds, five strokes back of Harrington (65) who leads by two as he seeks to make it consecutive senior major championship victories.

Conscious of the class of the man leading the pack, Chalmers knows it will take something out of the ordinary – like Kim at the Amundi Evian Championship – to come out on top.

“He’s obviously very confident at the moment and a world-class player,” said Chalmers.

“Ultimately it’s going to take, I would imagine, some really good golf from me, regardless of who is leading or what’s going on because you rarely get to just coast around and win the Senior British Open.”

With just one bogey from consecutive rounds of 4-under 66, Chalmers again took advantage of Sunningdale’s two par 5s on day three along with birdies at the par-4 ninth and par-4 17th.

After a somewhat slow start to the week, the West Australian is now in position to better his previous best finish in a senior major, a tie for third at the 2024 Senior PGA.

“I really didn’t play that well on Monday. I didn’t strike the ball very well at all,” said Chalmers. “Sometimes stress can sort of make you go to work, and so I had a really good practice session yesterday morning before my round and shot another 4-under there yesterday and continued that today.

“I’m pleased with how I’m holing out from sort of four to six feet, and things have been going nicely. I’m happy the last two days.”

It was hard to tell whether Hend was happy despite his round of 64 that elevated him inside the top 10.

Bemoaning the poa annua greens that he says is his least favourite surface to putt on, Hend’s main motivation on Sunday will be a win that opens the door to more time in the United States.

“It means I can stay at home a lot more in the States and play the Champions Tour,” Hend said of the prospect of a Senior Open triumph.

“That’s the end goal. Just keep cracking at it.

“Just got to have my week and hopefully it’s the right week where I’m situated and playing at a Champions Tour event.”

An even-par 70 saw Cameron Percy drop six spots into a tie for 10th, Aussie trio Michael Wright (68), Mark Hensby (69) and Steve Allan a shot further back in a tie for 13th at 5-under.

Photo: Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images

Round 3 Australasian scores
T4        Greg Chalmers             -8
T4        Steven Alker (NZ)         -8
T8        Scott Hend                   -7
T10      Cameron Percy             -6
T13      Michael Wright            -5
T13      Mark Hensby               -5
T13      Steve Allan                   -5
T22      Richard Green              -3
T61      Stuart Appleby             +2
T65      Mark Brown (NZ)          +3
MC       Rod Pampling              +2
MC       Michael Long (NZ)        +3
MC       Michael Campbell (NZ) +6
MC       David Bransdon           +11

Round 4 tee times AEST
9pm                 Mark Brown (NZ)
9:20pm            Stuart Appleby
9:55pm            Richard Green
10:35pm          Steve Allan
10:45pm          Mark Hensby, Michael Wright
11pm               Cameron Percy
11:20pm          Scott Hend
11:30pm          Greg Chalmers, Steven Alker (NZ)