Australia’s Matt Griffin and Japan’s Hideto Tanihara will go head to head tomorrow in the final round of the BMW ISPS HANDA New Zealand Open in Queenstown.

Tanihara, an 11-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, will take a two shot lead into Sunday after firing 9-under 63 in the third round; producing nine birdies and a stunning eagle on the par-5 13th at The Hills.

"I had a good sense of how I was going to hit that shot and use the slope, I hit the ball exactly where I wanted to and it felt great because it felt like the perfect shot." 

"I have had some wins in Japan but I have never had the opportunity to win overseas. It is a huge challenge for me but if it is possible it would also be a huge achievement. I would really like to see my name written on the trophy."

Victorian Matt Griffin, who headed into the third round in a share of the lead with Tanihara and fellow Victorian Deyen Lawson, will challenge Tanihara in the final round with only two shots separating the pair.

"With Tanihara playing as well as he did I was trying to keep my place and rolled a few putts in. It’s as well as I’ve ever played today, I gave myself a heap of chances and it’s good to be in there with a chance tomorrow."

Griffin kept within striking distance of Tanihara firing 7-under 65 at The Hills; producing six birdies and an eagle with the only blemish on his score card a lone bogey on the par-4 8th.

"I had it going for a while and had a heap of birdie putts, it was nice to roll a few in. It was really good to get the round going on 15 with a chip in so that kept the momentum going."

"I’m two shots back so have a rest and if tomorrow is anything like today then it’ll be something really special! I’m going to do the best I can and see what happens."

Sitting five shots behind Griffin and Tanihara on 10-under is Korea’s I J Jang, Japan’s Shunsuke Sonoda and Kiwi Steven Alker.

Rounding out the top-10 on 9-under the card are Adam Blyth (AUS), Hyun-woo Ryu (KOR) and New Zealand based Dongwoo Kang (KOR).

The lead group of Tanihara and Griffin will be on course at The Hills tomorrow at 12:30pm

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