Jordan Zunic made a brilliant start to join the lead on day three of the Australian PGA Championship at RACV Royal Pines Resort.
The Australian finished in the top ten here in the 2016 season but looked determined to better that as he made three opening birdies to join countrymen Adam Bland and Marc Leishman at 12 under.
Bland and Leishman started the day with a share of the overnight lead and both began their third rounds with three pars.
Greg Chalmers - a two-time winner of this event - was playing alongside his two fellow Australians and he also started with three pars to sit at ten under.
Defending champion Harold Varner III was then at nine under, a shot ahead of home duo David Bransdon and Cameron Smith.
American Varner finished his round on Friday with four birdies and he carried that momentum brilliantly into round three, making further gains on the first and second to move just three shots off the lead.
Zunic was another man to make a birdie-birdie start - almost recording a hole-in-one at the second - and with the final trio all parring the first, he leapfrogged Chalmers into second and was just a shot back.
The 25 year old had taken advantage of the par five third in round two and he did the same again on Saturday to make it three birdies in a row and join the lead.
Bransdon turned in 32 with five birdies and a bogey, while Smith dropped a shot on the first in his first three holes.
Australian Jake McLeod was six under for the day with one to play and seven under for the week alongside American Kramer Hickok, a shot ahead of a group containing Masters Tournament champion Sergio Garcia.
