Gold Coast: Adam Scott fired a three-under-par 69 to join Wade Ormsby and Scott Strange in a three-way tie for the lead after the third round of the Australian PGA Championship on Saturday.
Scott started the day two shots behind Ormsby and Strange but made up the ground after his two playing partners shot 71.
American Boo Weekley, who led after the first round, kept himself in the hunt with a 69 that featured a chip-in for eagle on the par-5 12th.
Weekley finished the day at a combined nine-under, one behind the leading trio, and tied for fourth with Australia’s Jason Scrivener, who signed for a 68.
New Zealand’s Michael Hendry climbed to outright sixth place, at eight under, after shooting a 67, the best round of the day.
Scott, defending the title he won last year at the Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast near where he was raised, had four birdies and one bogey in his round.
The world number three will go into the final day as a heavy favourite to claim his sixth title on the Australasian PGA Tour.
The 34-year-old trailed Strange by a stroke with two holes to play but got back on level terms when Strange bogeyed the 17th.
Ormsby slipped two shots behind when he bogeyed the ninth and 11th holes but pulled one back with a birdie on the 12th then drained a long birdie on the last to rejoin Scott and Strange in the lead.
