The West Australian lowered the Binalong course record by two strokes with six birdies, an eagle and two bogeys to take a one-shot edge over Lucas Higgins and Peter Cooke into Sunday’s final round.

But on a packed leaderboard, six players share fourth at 4-under with another six just a shot back from them.

Peake had a “pretty serious debrief” after letting slip his chance in the final group at the Queanbeyan regional qualifier for the New South Wales Open earlier this week.

And the left-hander – who once won an international amateur teams event paired with Cam Smith – is eager to make amends when he gets a repeat chance for a world title.

“I knew it was on TV and I really wanted to show something to my family and friends back in WA,” said Peake, a member at Lakelands Country Club north of Perth.

“But it got away from me quickly and I was really disappointed in what I did… I’m looking forward to setting the record straight a bit tomorrow.”

Peake, who began his round on the ninth hole, leapt from the blocks with a chip-in eagle on the short par-4 10th hole, but stagnated for an hour before a bogey on the short 14th triggered his record charge.

He birdied six of the next seven holes, including another greenside chip-in on the 18th.

“I missed a couple, too, but then again, I had a couple drop in for me, so it all evens out on sand greens – you just have to roll with it,” he said.

“I played a lot of state events on sand as an amateur and I really like it.”

South Australian Cooke, also no stranger to sand greens, said his round was “pretty stress-free” as he peeled off six birdies against just one bogey.

“I got up and down pretty well from the sides of most greens and made birdies on the holes you’d expect to,” Cooke said.

“It was just a solid round of golf.”

The X-factor in the final group is Higgins, a sand greens rookie from Murwillumbah who also found six birdies after not looking nearly as comfortable during his Friday pro-am round.

“I spent a lot of time looking at the way the ball was rolling around the greens and tried to take that out today and it worked pretty well,” Higgins said.

“I’m learning as we go, but I’m happy with the way it went.”

Blake Windred and Brett Rankin are the biggest names at 4-under, while veteran Rick Kulacz looms again at 3-under, just days after his runner-up finish at Queanbeyan.

The final group in Sunday’s final round will start at 11:50am, with live coverage on Seven Plus and streamed on the Golf NSW website.