In the second year of his PGA Traineeship, Cooper Eccleston will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Tony Hollands Funerals QLD PGA Trainee Championship after shooting 69 in today’s third round to be 5-under par for the tournament.

Eccleston who is conducting his PGA Traineeship at Victoria Park Golf Complex has had three wins already this year in PGA Trainee tournaments in addition to winning the QLD Trainee Order of Merit Championship in 2017. However the 19-year-old finds himself in unfamiliar territory heading into tomorrow’s final round.

“I have never lead in a four-round tournament before and am pretty excited for what tomorrow might bring,” said Eccleston.

“Going through nine holes today I saw my name at the top of the leaderboard, it is a pretty cool feeling and hopefully I can keep it there tomorrow.

“I was a little nervous going into today given I was a total of 5-over par earlier this week for the two nines we were playing, though other than a soft bogey on my ninth hole, I was really pleased with the way I played.

“The key so far this week has been my preparation. I have been working really hard with my coach Peter Heiniger and experimenting with what phase of my practice I would be in leading into the tournament and when combined with having four practice rounds over the last month, I feel I have prepared as good as I could for what is one of the most important weeks of the year for me."

Eccleston won’t have it all his own way though with a battle of the states looming with New South Welshman Brayden Petersen firing three consecutive rounds of 71 to be just two back. A further three shots back is last year’s runner-up Frazer Droop, the Victorian is certainly thinking he can make a late charge in the final round.

“I struggled last year on the red nine during the final round and given today is the last time we will play it for the week, I feel if I can put some pressure on early, anything can happen,” said Droop.

In a unique concept, the PGA Trainees will play their fourth consecutive different rotation at Indooroopilly Golf Club. The PGA Trainees will play the ‘River Course’ layout tomorrow with the leading group due to tee off at 11:12am.