Thursday threw the toughest conditions of the week at the 50 players who made the cut, only five players breaking par which included a superb 4-under 69 from Canberra’s Jacob Davies.

Highlighted by an eagle at the par-5 5th, Davies made birdies at 14, 17, and 18 with just a single blemish on the sixth to make a major move on the leaderboard.

At the top of that leaderboard is Concord Golf Club’s Joe Kim, who started Round 3 with four straight birdies before also succumbing to the strong winds on the run home.

Kim’s 2-under 71 and 1-under total gives him a one-stroke lead from 36-hole co-leader Jordan Garner (75) and Pacific Golf Club’s Campbell Jones, who has shot even-par 73 all three days of the championship.

A total of 12 players will start Friday’s final round within five strokes of Kim and, with coastal winds again expected to buffet Tura Beach, the door is open for a thrilling race to the finish.

First groups teed off at 7am on Friday morning with the lead group of Kim, Garner and Campbell scheduled to head out at 9:24am AEST.

Leaderboard