While it has been Smith versus Ripper GC teammate Lucas Herbert all week, after a frustrating 1-over 72 from Herbert today, Smith will be joined by two new playing partners for Sunday’s round.

Hunter Valley’s Corey Lamb and 41-year-old Alexander Simpson, who plays much of his golf on the adidas Pro-Am series, will stroll the fairways with major-champion Smith tomorrow.

Lamb is Smith’s closest challenger at 13-under, the 23-year-old fired a 67 today to continue his quest for a maiden Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia victory.

While tied third with Herbert and Kiwi Josh Geary at 11-under, it is Simpson who makes up the final group after a steady 3-under 68 today to continue his magical week thus far.

With his biggest pay-day in professional golf currently $3600, Simpson is in uncharted waters. Having already demonstrated he has the game to match it some of the world’s best this week, one more low one is far from out of the question.

The penultimate grouping on Sunday consists of Herbert and Geary, alongside former NSW Open champion Harrison Crowe, who carded a 3-under 68 today.

While Herbert held a two-shot overnight lead, Smith was able to flip the script early, playing his first five holes in 4-under. The highlight an eagle on the par-5 fourth, his second knocked in close.

Three more birdies on the back nine for Smith, while Herbert made two frustrating doubles, meant his lead was continuing to stretch.

After looking like his game was on cruise control for 16 holes today, Smith tugged an iron off 17 tee and found the fairway bunker left.

As if to rub salt into the wound, an overhanging tree meant Smith’s backswing was impeded, and in the blink of an eye the 2022 Open Champion walked off with a double bogey of his own, just letting the rest of the field back in slightly.

“It was really a shame to not finish as good as I wanted to,” said Smith. “Did what I needed to do today and on 17 there it was just, I don’t know. I don’t even know what it was to be honest. It’s all a blur.”

It was the only mistake Smith made all day, and while it could have been more comfortable lead, the Queenslander knows any 54-hole lead is a blessing, considering he will have the rest of the field hunting him, including Herbert.

“Leading into the last day is where you want to be, you want to be there thereabouts. I just need to do more of the same as what I did today,” he said.

“With Herbie having the day he did today, I expect that he’s probably going to come out with a good one tomorrow.

One of the players out to hunt down Smith, and not daunted by the prospect, is his Sunday playing partner Lamb.

“I want to be the best, and you’ve got to play with the best to be the best,” Lamb said of his Sunday pairing.

Hunting his first Tour win, Lamb has come close, with back-to-back runner-up finishes at the last two Webex Players Series South Australia events.

Having taken out the NSW Amateur and Queensland Amateur in consecutive weeks in his junior years, Lamb has a winning mentality, and knows it is only a matter of time out here.

“I think if I can get off to a solid start, it’ll give me a lot of confidence to go through to just play good golf,” he said.

“I’ve played well the last three rounds, and I feel like I’ve sort of left a few out there.

“The last two days I could have went a bit lower, so hopefully they can all drop tomorrow and I have a perfect round.”

Photo: Golf NSW.

36-hole leader over Smith, Herbert carded a blemish-free 6-under 65 to sit atop the leaderboard at 12-under in his first Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia start of this Summer, with Smith solo second at 10-under.

In a frustrating day in the heat combatting flies, Smith still managed a 3-under 68 today, but did not look his usual self, especially on his closing holes.

Four players are within reach at 9-under tied for third, with Josh Geary, Matias Sanchez, Corey Lamb and Dillon Hart all nipping at the heels of the two men at the top.

Geary, who had a 6-under 65 today including two eagles, will be joining Herbert and Smith in the final group tomorrow, the Kiwi no stranger to playing with the world’s best, his tied third finish in his home open earlier this year his most recent result.

With Smith continuing to make birdies today, he was able to hold onto his one-shot overnight lead for the majority of the round, even with Herbert finding another gear today.

In an incredible change of momentum however, Smith’s wayward drive and resulting bogey on the par-5 16^th gave Herbert just the opportunity he needed to overtake. And take the opportunity he did.

Pouring in a long downhill eagle putt, to the delight of the packed hospitality tent behind the green, Herbert suddenly found himself with a two-shot lead with two holes to play on Friday, a lead he would not give up.

“I think he (Smith) was probably grinding a little bit there on the back nine and it did feel like somewhat of a match play situation,” said Herbert.

“I missed one on nine that I was kind of frustrated with because it was a bad putt, and I don’t really hit bad putts.

“It was a bit of a kick in the ass though and got things into gear for the back nine. Got a little lucky there a couple of times and made some nice putts when I needed to as well.”

With a potential showdown with Smith on the cards for Sunday, Herbert is relishing the opportunity to go toe-to-toe with the 2022 Open Champion.

“I hope we both play really well tomorrow, break away from the field and it becomes a shootout. Push each other to play the golf,” he said.

“Whether I win or lose, I’ll learn a hell of a lot and it’ll be a hell of a lot of fun.”

Two players who uncharacteristically find themselves in the final few groups on Saturday, tied with each other for seventh at 8-under, are Alexander Simpson and Brett Drewitt.

Their reasons for not appearing in weekend  feature groups on this Tour vary greatly however. Drewitt because he has carved out a career in the US between the PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour, Simpson because he doesn’t play much Tour golf at all.

Having pre-qualified for the Ford NSW Open at Club Barham on Monday, Simpson mainly features on the adidas Pro-Am series, the 41-year-old just happy to be playing well.

“I don’t sort of tend to get too far ahead of myself,” said Simpson “Yeah, I’ve been playing nicely coming into the week, but mostly without any sort of putts falling.

“Fortunately, that sort of turned around the last few days so that’s been good.”

Teeing off minutes before the likes of Smith and Herbert is a thrill for many of the guys on Tour, and Simpson is looking forward to a weekend he’ll never forget.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool really isn’t it?”, he said.

“It’s funny, I’m happy with how I played but yeah, I hadn’t considered any of that until I went into town, grabbed some lunch and just thought, ‘yeah, it’s cool'”. “

While it might not be everyday Simpson plays alongside a major champion, it is something that Drewitt feels extremely comfortable with and he’ll not be in awe of neither the Ripper GC teammates nor the crowds on the weekend.

“I’d say it gives you a little bit more confidence,” he said of his experience in the US. “I’ve played against some very strong fields, I’ve played with (Rory) McIlroy, I’ve played with Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffle.

“I’ve played with all those guys, so I know what it’s like out there, and coming back home here, just knowing that I can compete with those guys over there as well gives me a boost of confidence.”

The only thing that may hinder Drewitt over the weekend is his lack of reps in recent weeks, the Sydneysider taking some time off towards the end of the year.

“Legs are a little sore. It’s been a while since I played, so walking around the course and stuff is harder than usual,” he said.

“It’s one reason why I came back, come back, just remember where I’m from, obviously see my parents and all that kind of stuff, but it’s just a nice way to hopefully build some momentum going into next year.”

Photo: Golf NSW

Playing partner Lucas Herbert, who no doubt many of the fans were just as eager to see up close, had a day out of his own with a 6-under 65 to grab a share of second to headline a pack of players chasing Smith.

Tied with Herbert for second at 6-under is fellow Victorians Andrew Martin and Nathan Page, along with Queenslander Chris Wood.

Another secondary chasing pack has formed with five players tied sixth at 5-under. All Tour young-guns in Harrison Crowe, Matias Sanchez, Corey Lamb, Andrew Campbell and Kerry Mountcastle.

With the heat— and the fly count— down early, most of the players at the top of the leaderboard after Round 1 came from the morning groups.

Playing just his second Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia event of the summer – after a tie for third first up at the Queensland PGA – Smith barely missed a beat.

Going blow-for-blow with Herbert, Smith’s blemish-free card came up trumps, the 2022 Open champion pleased to have found his game early in the week.

“It’s a little bit tricky out there today,” said Smith. “I thought I’d do a really good job of just hitting lots of fairways and giving myself plenty of opportunities. That’s what you need to do around here.

“There’s plenty of wedges and the greens were nice this morning. Obviously being one of the first ones there to take advantage of that was pretty nice.”

Starting on 10, Smith missed an uphill birdie chance on 11 but was able to bounce back quickly with birdies at both 12 and 13 to get his round rolling.

Two more birdies at 15 and 16 had Smith turn in 4-under, already claiming the outright tournament lead that he would refuse to relinquish.

“Nothing really stuck out, there was just no real bad bits. Everything kind of seemed pretty solid,” he said.

Smith’s solidity continued on his second nine with three more birdies coming in, the Queenslander giving some credit to two familiar members of his group.

“It was nice having Sam (Pinfold) back on the bag. I had my coach (Grant Field) there at Nudgee and he was horrendous,” Smith joked.

“It was also nice having someone else (Herbert) there kind of pushing you along.

“We were obviously playing some really good golf together and when you have someone right there, it almost eggs you on a little bit more.”

Despite finishing one back of Smith, it was Herbert who got out of the gates early. But as Smith remained steady, Herbert was forced to bounce back from dropped shots on several occasions.

“If I can hang around Cam’s (Smith) score, most events I’m probably going to be doing pretty well,” said Herbert.

“Pretty happy with that. Had it going reasonably well there through 12, 13 holes and then just stumbled on a couple coming in.

“I felt like my game’s been kind of rusty coming into the week, so I can’t expect too much.

“To walk off 65, pretty happy with that.”

After two early birdies, Herbert made bogey on 13 after his tee shot found the left trees. However, the Victorian got on a run through the middle of his round, making five birdies in eight holes.

Bogeys followed at five and seven but spurred on by his duty to “keep Cam honest”, Herbert finished strong with consecutive birdies.

Herbert’s bogey on seven could have been a lot worse too, after the Victorian’s second on the long par-4 went long left towards the pond.

Fortuitously remaining dry on a patch of mud, Herbert was able to climb in and blast a wedge out without talking a penalty, besides the damage to his new pristine white shoes.

Another Victorian to start hot north of the Murray is Martin, who has just returned from a year on the DP World Tour courtesy of his top-3 Order of Merit finish two seasons ago.

After a missed-cut at Nudgee upon his return home, Martin was pleased to have started strong at Murray Downs.

“I would say it’s been a bit of a battle the last this year. I was actually pretty happy with how it was in Queensland, even though I missed the cut,” Martin said of his game.

“A lot of signs were there, and I was happy, I just needed to see the putts drop and a couple of tweaks with the putter.”

Growing up in Bendigo — as did Herbert — the Murray River region is very familiar territory for Martin who feels comfortable on this week’s layout.

“Growing up down the road, I played a lot of my school and junior stuff here,” he said.

“I’ve said for years, even when I first turned pro, the Murray’s the place to be. There are some great golf courses up here and always in good condition.

“Apart from the flies.”

Photos: Golf NSW