Barker leads by one at 17-under over his playing partner from today, Victorian Nathan Page, who missed several late birdie chances on Saturday to snatch the 54-hole lead.

New South Welshman James Conran sits in solo-third at 15-under, before a group of five players are tied-fourth a further shot back. That group includes another Sydneysider and 2021 WA PGA champion Jay McKenzie, who has missed the last seven cuts prior to this week.

An incredible 17 more players are at 10-under or better, and with a large number posting 7-under today, many — including Barker — will not be surprised if someone makes an early run on Sunday.

Saturdays final group of Harrison Crowe, Tyler Hodge and Will Florimo all missed out on the scoring today, Crowe and Florimo carding a pair of 70s, Hodge finishing with an even-par 72.

Playing in the penultimate group, Barker shrugged off an early bogey, before the putter got hot, and the 2023 PNG Open winner started making birdies for fun on the Heritage’s St. John course.

“Putter has been my friend so far this week, which is really good. I’ve been working hard at it, so good to see my putting really turning up for me,” he said.

Two stretches of three consecutive birdies came at holes 7-9, and again 11-13, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing. There are no pictures on the scorecard, but those watching his round will have seen Barker make some incredible saves late in the round, none more impressive than the 17th.

“It’s funny you think mine was a really solid round of golf and the scorecard looks pretty clean, but I felt like it was a really good shot or it was a very poor shot,” he said.

“I just didn’t get penalised for the bad shots out there today.

“Late in the day I hit a tee shot left on 14, but it felt good. 15, right. 16 straight. 17 right. 18 left. So a bit army golf late but managed to scramble pars out of the poor situations.

“The putt on 17 was massive for par.”

After leaving his tee shot a long way short-right on the par-3 17th, Barker managed to hole an outside chance for par, and was forced to scramble again as his 8-iron from the rough on 18 came up agonisingly short in the front collar.

It proved no trouble though, and he was a happy man back in the clubhouse signing for a 7-under 65.

Like a number of players in the field this week, Barker has been in love with The Heritage since he played the Australian Junior Amateur here in 2014, and with him and Page jostling for the lead, Barker was reminded of another love from his amateur days.

“I love match play, I’ll be playing mind games tomorrow,” Barker joked.

Having only missed two cuts all season, Barker has been one of the most consistent on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia this season, however he hasn’t managed to get into serious contention.

“It has been frustrating but I mean I know my game, I know I’m good enough and golf’s like that. You ride the highs when they’re on, and you battle through the lows,” he said.

“You’re still the same guy and if you keep working at it, you’ve got to believe in yourself, but It’ll come around, you always know you’re good enough.

“It’s been a while, so yeah, I’m definitely looking forward to it.

“People ask, ‘what are you going to do differently?’, nothing. Get up and play golf tomorrow. I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again.”

Order of Merit leader Elvis Smylie had a day he would like to forget on Saturday, two late double-bogeys leading to a 5-over 77. He will play in the opening group tomorrow, before his OOM position is finalised for the season.

New Zealand’s Hodge, and Queenslander Florimo are tied at 11-under-par, with Hodge looking to make it back-to-back Tour wins after breaking through at the Wallace Development New Zealand PGA Championship just two weeks ago.

Order of Merit leader Elvis Smylie plugged away today for a 2-under-par 70, and is still very much in the hunt for a third title this season, just five shots from the lead. The Queenslander also triumphed in his battle with OOM No.2 Ryan Peake, who failed to make it to the weekend play.

Smylie’s coronation as the new OOM champion will come on Sunday afternoon.

Four players are tied for third at 10-under, including overnight leader Jack Munro, young Sydneysider Harrison Crowe, Victorian Nathan Page, and 2023 PNG Open winner Lachlan Barker.

A larger group of six players are a further shot back at 9-under, amongst them 2021 WA PGA champion Jay McKenzie, who has struggled this season but has taken a liking to the St. John course, opening with 68-67.

Hodge’s 7-under 65 on Friday morning proved to be one of the rounds of the day, made all the more remarkable by the fact he is battling a suspected chest infection, distancing himself from playing partners Phoenix Campbell and Josh Geary for much of the second round.

The solitude seemed to agree with the Kiwi who rolled in seven birdies and recorded no dropped shots on his way to the top of the leaderboard.

“It was pretty good out there today. I didn’t quite have my best swing but kind of just got it round I suppose,” Hodge said.

It was also a Friday 65 for Florimo. However with two bogeys on the card, the burly Queenslander made his shots up in more dramatic fashion.

The 25-year-old produced an eagle-par-par-birdie run home to break out of the logjam now below him.

“I hit it right of the green with the second shot (on the par-5 15th). I’ve got a seven wood in the bag this week which I’m sort of playing around with, and I left myself in a bit of an awkward spot but hit a nice chip that sort of dribbled in the front edge,” Florimo said of his late eagle.

Like Hodge, Florimo says his game isn’t exactly where he would like it to be, but a new-found confidence around the greens has proved transformational.

“I’m sort of not 100% tee to green but really taking advantage around the green so that’s nice,” he said.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, the two men at the top were both been searching for that elusive first professional win, however with Hodge already proving himself at Hastings, Florimo will go into the weekend the underdog.

Despite his recent success, Hodge was candid in his winning press conference two weeks ago, revealing that he and his fiancé have been having serious thoughts about giving playing professional golf away, a decision that will only get harder if he were to have another good weekend.

“I mean there’s still going to be some discussions, I don’t know, it might be an even bigger spanner in what the plans were,” Hodge said.

“It’s always good to play well though. Hopefully I can finish it off and we’ll go from there.”

Although the underdog, Florimo has amassed some strong results this year, a share of third at Webex Players Series Sydney the highlight of three top-10s.

“It’s felt really close all year,” he said.

“Me and my team are really just waiting for the next step I suppose.

“I keep putting myself in position so hopefully we can get one done this weekend.”

The Heritage Classic is live on Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo.

*All times AEDT.

Round 3:  Saturday 3pm-6pm (Fox Sports 503/Kayo)Final Round:  Sunday 1pm-6pm (Fox Sports 503/Kayo)

Munro posted 9-under 63 around the St John Course on Friday as Elvis Smylie stared down his closest chaser for the Challenger PGA Tour of Order of Merit title, Ryan Peake, firing a 4-under 68 to Peake’s 74, and took one step closer to wrapping up the season-long title.

Munro leads by two after day one over fellow Queenslander Douglas Klein, who opened with a 7-under 65 and nine birdies in the afternoon wave, including twos on three of the four short holes.

The low scores continued down the leaderboard, with six players tied third at 6-under, including South Australia’s Lachlan Barker and two more Queenslanders in Dylan Gardner and Louis Dobbelaar, the 2023 NZ PGA champion rediscovering form after a tough season to-date.

Smylie’s 68 has him in a share of 13^th at 4-under, while Peake has some catching up to do, after beginning his day with two balls in the water and a quadruple-bogey eight on the 10th hole.

Munro was able to get back into the safety of The Heritage clubhouse before the worst of the wind rolled through the property, although he admits that the inclement weather may have aided him on his way to the lead.

“I probably play better in the wind,” he said, still glad to be out of the rain rolling in.

“I just sort of got on a roll on the back nine there.

“I played the first nine fine, but then I think I went 3-2-3 to start the back nine.”

Munro made the turn in 2-under, but that hot start on the Jack Nicklaus-designed layout’s back nine suddenly had him 6-under through 12 and joining Gardner at the top of the leaderboard, before making further birdies at 13 and 15.

As the wind strengthened, Munro and his group turned back toward The Heritage clubhouse to play the closing three-holes into the strong breeze.

On the long par-4 16th, Munro was able to steal yet another birdie, before holding his nerve for two closing pars to sign for a cool 9-under 63.

“I hit a nice tee shot there. It’s playing really long and so is 18 actually,” Munro said of the 16th.

“A good second shot in there under the wind and holed a nice one from about 15 foot.

“It’s just nice to just shoot a good score early and we’ll take it as it comes the next couple of days.”

While Dobbelaar’s 66 isn’t enough for the Round 1 lead, many will be delighted to see the Queenslander back in contention on Tour.

The former star amateur broke through for his maiden win two years ago but has made just seven cuts this season, revealing the struggle he has endured since his NZ PGA triumph.

“I’ve done a lot of work in the past couple years it’s felt like, but I feel like lately I’ve actually kind of put my finger on a couple things,” Dobbelaar said after his round.

“Been doing some work with a new coach that’s been helping, and I’m responding well to some of that work.

“I’m just enjoying golf again, really. That’s probably the most important part.

“Conditions were a little bit tricky today, but I feel like I controlled my ball pretty well in the wind.

“That was essential today and held some nice putts. It was a nice solid round.”