Wade Ormsby will take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the Vic Open after holding his nerve in testing conditions in Barwon Heads to card a 2-under-par 70 in his third round on Saturday.
The Australian recovered from an early double-bogey to move to 15 under for the tournament, two shots ahead of compatriot Matthew Stieger, who scorched the course with a 7-under 65, and Englishman Callum Shinkwin.
Scotsman David Law, South African Justin Harding and Australia's Brad Kennedy were then three shots off the lead in a tie for third place.
Beginning the day in third behind halfway leaders Jason Scrivener and Nick Flanagan, Ormsby found himself in trouble on the par-5 second, where he dropped two shots.
"I made a bit of a meal of it straight out of the box," the 38-year-old said. "It was just tough out there. I just kept grinding, really, that's all we can do in weather like that.
"You're going to hit a lot of bad shots, need to recover a lot and I did that quite well so I'm happy."
Ormsby chipped in on the fifth to pull a shot back and gained another on the ninth to get back to par for the round before gains on the 13th and 18th holes gave him the outright lead.
Scrivener and Flanagan both suffered in the wet conditions, making two birdies but dropping six shots each for 4-over-par 76 and a share of 10th place.
In the women's tournament, which is also the second stop on the LPGA circuit, American Kim Kaufman clung on to a two-shot lead despite going 3-over-par 75.
Kaufman is on 10 under for the tournament, two strokes ahead of France's Celine Boutier and Australia's Su Oh. Japan's Haru Nomura was then a shot further back in fourth place.
