The young Kiwi now leads by six shots heading into Sunday, as he continues to put on a masterclass around the Peter Thomson designed layout.

“I’m pretty tired so I’m looking forward to a good rest,” he said after his efforts.

“I got some good breaks today … but took advantage of those breaks as well.

“I hit 17 greens (in regulation), so it was pretty stress free for the most part.”

Kobori’s round really got going at the turn, with four consecutive threes from holes 9 through 12, before almost holing out for eagle on 13.

“Spewing! That would’ve been unreal … I’ll take birdie there any day though,” he said.

Kobori’s closest challenger is last year’s Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner David Micheluzzi, who stands alone in second place at 10-under.

Micheluzzi’s order of merit win from last season has granted him status to play on the DP World Tour in 2024, something Kobori hopes to do in the future.

“Doing what he did, through a pathway that hasn’t existed before, so I’m looking forward to hopefully doing the same thing he did,” said Kobori.

Micheluzzi started his Saturday round relatively slowly, but got it going on the back-nine to card a five-under 67.

The Victorian is happy to be playing back home in Australia, and after coming agonisingly close at the Queensland PGA Championship a few weeks back, he’ll be hungry to chase down Kobori and go one better tomorrow.

“On the back-nine I said to myself I just got to trust it (the wind),” Micheluzzi said.

“We holed some putts which was nice. I did that a little bit on the back-nine yesterday as well.

“I don’t think the gameplan will change at all tomorrow, but at the same time, it is freedom golf because you are chasing.”

Micheluzzi is playing with Hawthorn star Mitch Lewis in the pro-am team event this week, and says the pair feed off each other well.

“It just makes it more chilled out and we kind of rallied off each other,” he said.

“He made a great birdie on, I think it was 11 … then I birdied my next three.”

There are three players in a tie for third at nine-under par, with Ben Eccles, Darcy Brereton and Maverick Antcliff all in hot pursuit of the leaders.

Eccles matched Kobori’s 66 on Saturday, racing up the leaderboard with a bogey-free penultimate round.

There are new leaders after round three in the teams section, with Brett Coletta and amateur partner Rick Watson on top at 27-under-par.

Full scores HERE.