Ice-cool Ryan Peake and fellow Australian left-hander Elvis Smylie have both declared they are close enough to chase down runaway leader Guntaek Koh in the final round of the $A1.8 million New Zealand Open.
The South Korean will take a four-shot lead into the deciding round at Millbrook Resort after carding a five-under 66 on Saturday to move to 22 under.
Peake only arrived in Queenstown 36 hours before the tournament began after a hold up with NZ Immigration and a late scramble for an available flight.
But he made light of a wayward driver to card a third-round 64 and be in outright second at 18 under.
Australasian Tour order of merit (OOM) leader Smylie lit up the back nine to sign for a 65 and be in sixth spot, two strokes further back.
The 25-year-old Koh is a proven tournament winner, having saluted four times on the Korean Tour in the last two years.
The highlight of his third round came when he holed out from 65 metres for an eagle two on the 12th hole.
"It's great that I have a four-shot lead but this course is very scorable," Koh said.
"I need to keep focused on what I'm doing and stay consistent."
His partner in the final round will be Peake, the former Rebels bikie gang member who needed a special direction order to enter New Zealand due to an assault conviction dating back to 2014.
The paperwork was only finalised on Monday.
After serving time in prison, Peake has turned his life around on and off the course.
The 31-year-old has now gone 39 holes without a bogey at Millbrook Resort, despite hitting only three of 14 fairways on Saturday.
"Absolutely (I'm close enough to win)," he said.
"I just wanted to set myself up in a good position.
"I've gone out there today and capitalised on that.
"It's going to be pivotal to get off to a good start tomorrow and try and apply some pressure and go from there."
Smylie has already won twice on the Australasian Tour this season, with his victory last December at the Australian PGA earning him a two-year exemption on the DP World Tour.
He is the short-priced favourite to win the OOM and he reckons he can also emerge victorious at the NZ Open - either of which scenario would guarantee a start in the 2025 British Open at Royal Portrush.
Smylie was level with the card through the opening nine holes on Saturday, but needed only 29 shots on a red-hot back nine which included an eagle and four birdies.
The 22-year-old was "100 per cent" confident he could still push for the win from six shots back.
"I know my game is there," he said.
"It would be special to be able to come back from however many shots I am behind the leader but I know I can do that.
"It's definitely motivating."
Japan's Kazuki Higa, South African Ian Snyman and China's Bobby Bai were tied for third at 17 under.
