A two-shot leader at the start of the third round, Geary adopted a conservative approach and played exceptional bogey-free golf in difficult, windy conditions to record a 4-under-par 68.

Chasing a first Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia victory since the 2013 WA Open, he moved to 19-under for the tournament and a four-stroke advantage over NSW’s Austin Bautista (69).

NSW Amateur champion Declan O’Donovan (71) showed great resilience after a tough start to stay in the hunt at 14-under, while another shot behind is the Queensland duo of Kade McBride and Aaron Wilkin, who both posted 4-under 68s.

Thanks to birdies on the fourth, 10th and 13th holes, Geary was as many as five shots up before a late rally from Bautista slightly improved his chances of winning on Sunday.

“I’m really happy with the way I handled myself today,” Geary said after closing his day with a birdie at the last.

“My long game hasn’t been great, so a lot of times I played quite conservative, but you sort of could today.

“It was windy enough for 4-under to be a good score and to keep the bogeys off the card was good.

“Got a bit loose near the end but it was just hard. It was very hard.”

Back in contention for the first time in more than a year, Bautista has been in a similar mindset to the leader.

He’s had just one bogey and one double-bogey in the first 54 holes, the double coming on the par-4 14th on Saturday, but he bounced back with birdies on 15 and 17.

Bautista has been adopting the “when it’s breezy, swing easy” approach to playing in the winds on the Bellarine, which proved to be a real challenge late on day three and will be a factor again in the final round.

“I’ve focused really hard just on just tempo and transition and noticed a big difference,” the 2023 Webex Players Series South Australia champion said.

“I remember when I’m playing well, that is the tempo. It’s just funny when you start playing bad, you’re just trying to hit it so hard.”

In his first start on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia this season, Wilkin’s 68 included birdies on three of his last four holes to get him into the mix for his second Tour title.

“Hit it very well in the wind. Had a lot of chances, but also had to save a few for par, so I sort of just hung in there,” the former Queensland PGA champion said.

“It’s great to be in contention. That’s why I’ve come back and played.

“I love this golf course and the tournament set-up is really, really cool. I’m going to have to produce a pretty good one tomorrow by the looks of it but you never know.”

First-round leader McBride described his 68 as “about as bad a score as I could have shot out there today”.

“It’s always nice to have a chance. That’s all you want. And then you’ve just got to make sure the cards fall your way,” the Queenslander said.

The big morning moves came from Victorian Todd Sinnott (64) and Tasmania’s Simon Hawkes (66) who both moved to 11-under-par and a share of seventh.

After making the halfway cut on the number, Sinnott’s bogey-free round included just 31 strokes on the back nine, while Hawkes collected seven birdies with just the one dropped shot.

Defending champion Brett Coletta (72) made it through to Sunday’s play at 4-under.

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