A third round of three-under 67 elevated Herbert to a share of third alongside American Matthew Wolff and Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana at 10-under par, seven shots adrift of Mexican Abraham Ancer (64).

American Cameron Young (65) is Ancer’s nearest challenger at 15-under par, Herbert on track to record a second top-five finish from as many starts in 2023.

Fellow Aussie Marc Leishman would have been one shot closer to the lead if not for a late stumble at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club.

Owning a share of the lead midway through Round 2, Leishman moved to 11-under with birdies at 10, 13 and 14 but dropped back to eight-under for the tournament with three straight bogeys from the 15th hole.

He will start Round 4 in a share of seventh, one shot clear of New South Welshman Travis Smyth who surged into a tie for 10th with a bogey-free five-under 65 on day three.

Another Aussie prominent on the leaderboard but a long way back of the lead is Gabi Ruffels.

Playing in her first event as a member of the Ladies European Tour, Ruffels moved into outright fourth with a third round of two-under 71 but is 10 shots behind runaway leader Aditi Ashok of India.

With scoring at a premium, Brett Drewitt’s two-under 68 in Round 3 has put him in the hunt for victory at the Panama Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour.

After an even-par front nine of 35, Drewitt made eagle at the par-5 12th before a bogey-birdie run at 14 and 15 to climb 13 spots on the leaderboard and sit just one stroke back of American Christoper Petefish.

In a third round only partially completed, Aaron Baddeley remains the best-placed of the Aussies at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Baddeley is one-over through nine holes at Spyglass Hill to be tied for 38th, Greg Chalmers and Geoff Ogilvy both just inside the final day cut at one-under with one and 10 holes to complete respectively.