New Zealand’s Daniel Pearce will be hard to catch heading in to round four of the Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship presented by Wippells Autos with a commanding eight shot lead.

He has one hand on history with the lowest 72-hole score in professional Australian golf being 29-under set by Kurt Barnes in the 2004 Queensland PGA Championship, Pearce would need to shoot another round of 62 to match the record.

Barnes set the record at the par 72 Emerald Lakes Course with a total of 259, City Golf Club is par 70 meaning Pearce needs to finish 22-under or better for a tournament record.

“I got off to another slow start, I birdied the first but the rest of the front nine was pretty quiet, the hole just kept getting in the way of the ball on the back nine!” Pearce joked.

The big hitting Kiwi’s driver has been working overtime and despite a couple of wayward shots today, Pearce said that’s been a highlight of his week so far.

“For the most part I’ve been driving pretty nicely, today there were a few loose ones but I managed to get away with them I guess.”

He’s shot 24 birdies so far this week and two eagles, both of which coming on the 17^th.

“The last two days the 17^th has been good to me, I made it very easily with a couple of good iron shots.”

When asked if a double digit victory was on his mind heading in to tomorrow, Pearce said he’d happily take it but will not be making too many changes to his game.

“I’ll see what happens tomorrow, I’ll just keep playing the way I am and if it’s good enough it’s good enough.”

Matthew Millar, who shot 4-under 66 to climb up to T2 alongside Burdett, said chasing a runaway leader is all about applying pressure.

“You’ve got to get some pressure on him, he’s a long hitter and he can hit shorter clubs off tees if he wants to tomorrow, if that’s the way it pans out if he hasn’t got his rhythm,” Millar said.

“You’re going to need to make some birdies to catch him, I don’t think he’ll drop four or five shots.”

Millar, who is one of the most consistent players on the Tour, is focused on his own game and believes there are plenty of scoring opportunities for himself in round four.

“Tomorrow I’ll just get out there and keep trying to make birdies, I don’t think I’ve tried to shy away from a pin all week.

“The greens are really receptive and you can really get in there and get amongst it, between yesterday and today I feel like I’ve left quite a few shortish putts out there for birdie which I’ve got to say I’d normally get.”

Mark Brown (NZ) sits in outright fourth 12-under and Queensland amateur Charlie Dann holds fifth 11-under the card.

Brad Kennedy (QLD), Andrew Schoenwillie (VIC), Jack Munro (QLD) and Kris Mueck (VIC) complete the top-10 T6 and 10-under par.

For round 3 scores please visit pga.org.au.

For round 4 tee times please visit pga.org.au.