Adam Scott's eagle on the 18th put him on 11-under; Jiyai Shin is currently 14-under in the women's event; Both events being held on the same courses and offering equal prize money; watch live on Sunday from 3am on Sky Sports Golf
Saturday 3 December 2022 10:33, UK
Adam Scott and Jiyai Shin lead the men's and women's Australian Opens after three rounds at Victoria Golf Club.
Scott stayed on top despite seeing his course record equalled by Adrian Meronk, who shot a seven-under 63 in the third round.
The 2013 Masters champion had shot 63 on Friday to share the halfway lead with compatriot David Micheluzzi but saw Poland's Meronk surge to the top of the leaderboard with a nine-birdie round on Saturday.
Scott responded by finishing with an eagle for the second day in succession to move to 11 under, one stroke ahead of Meronk at the summit.
"I got familiar with the course so I'm going to enjoy tomorrow," Meronk said. "I just found something yesterday and I just kept going today and I hope tomorrow will be the same."
Australians Min Woo Lee (65) and Haydn Barron (68) are tied for third at seven under, and there are 10 players within six shots of Scott.
Meronk is ending a strong year in which he won the Irish Open, the first Polish player to win on the European tour.
It was the third consecutive round that players equalled Victoria Golf Club's course record after David Micheluzzi and Scott posted seven-under on the first and second days of the tournament.
In the women's event, Australian Hannah Green was swamped by overseas players, overtaken in the third round by South Korea's Shin and South Africa's Ashleigh Buhai, the Women's British Open champion.
Shin, who won the 2013 Australian Open at Royal Canberra, shot 67 and was at 14-under 203, one ahead of Buhai (66) and two ahead of Green.
Multiple major winners Karrie Webb and Laura Davies took fans on a nostalgia ride as the tour veterans traded shots to ensure that both made the second cut to be around for Sunday's final round.
Webb has shot rounds of 77-70-72 to be +2 and Davies was three shots behind after posting 74-73-75 in the hot conditions.
Open champion Cameron Smith shot a third-round one-under 69 but failed to finish in the top 30 to earn the right to play for the title in Sunday's final round.
There was a third-round cut to reduce the field from 60 for the final round in both the men's and women's events, and Smith, who won last week's Australian PGA at Royal Queensland, didn't expect to make the halfway cut.
He was enjoying drinks with friends when he found out late on Friday that he had sneaked into Saturday's field.
"I was pretty quick to the pub (after the early-morning second round) and, yeah, was probably a few too many beers deep and then I realized we had an early tee time, so I got back on the waters and was a good boy the rest of the night," Smith said.
"I thought I had it in me today and hit lots of good golf shots, and just couldn't really capitalize. Just not my week."
Watch the ISPS Handa Australian Open throughout the weekend on Sky Sports Golf. Live coverage continues Sunday from 1am on Sky Sports Golf.
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