But his outlook had changed completely 17 holes later when he holed a lengthy par putt to sign off on an 8-under-par 64 at Kingston Heath that has kept his title defence well and truly alive.

After being eight back from overnight leader Lucas Herbert, the Chilean will start the final round just two shots adrift of joint leaders Herbert and Ryggs Johnston.

He says it would be “super nice” to put his name on the Stonehaven Cup for a second time to follow on from his playoff victory at The Australian last year.

“I knew I need to play well because I was way behind,” Niemann said.

“I think in the morning it was a little bit tougher so I took advantage of that. We’re back in it.”

The only bogey of Niemann’s round came at his opener, the par-4 10th. He then collected seven birdies to go with an eagle at the par-5 first.

“I got pretty pissed about that first bogey of the day. At the start of the day, you don’t really want to start with a bogey, especially if you want to move up on the leaderboard.

“Fortunately I made a great putt on 11 and that got me back into it.”

Among the other big movers were West Australian Curtis Luck who shot a 65 to claim to a share of eighth and Switzerland’s Joel Girrbach, who was out in the first group of the morning and carded a 65 of his own. They are both at 11-under, three back.