Varner, Lombard, Frittelli lead in Aus
America's Harold Varner III scored six birdies in a bogey-free round to share the lead of the Australian PGA Championship after round three with Zander Lombard and Dylan Frittelli on Saturday.
The American started the day three-over-par at Royal Pines but shot the best round on Saturday with a six-under 66 to be locked in a three-way tie with South African pair Zander Lombard and Dylan Frittelli who both scored 71s.
A relaxed Varner told reporters afterwards that he liked his chances after handling the tough windy conditions.
"The wind's a pain in the butt right now," said Varner.
"I haven't played in that much wind in a long time.
"When bad things happen, you've just got to shake it off and go onto the next one and, today, I did that really well."
Sweden's David Lingmerth, who was the overnight leader, double-bogeyed par fours 10 and 13 to end on level par and three shots off the pace to be tied with Matthew Millar in fifth place, one shot off Australia's Nathan Holman in fourth position.
The leading scores:
213 – Harold Varner III (United States) 74-73-66, Dylan Frittelli (South Africa) 70-72-71, Zander Lombard (South Africa) 67-75-71
215 – Nathan Holman (Australia) 77-68-70
216 – Matthew Millar (Australia) 72-70-74, David Lingmerth (Sweden) 73-68-75
217 – Daniel Nisbet (Australia) 75-75-67, Richard Green (Australia) 73-74-70, Cameron Smith (Australia) 78-69-70, Michael Wright (Australia) 76-70-71, Jack Wilson (Australia) 73-73-71, Dimitrios Papadatos (Australia) 75-71-71
218 – Rory Bourke (Australia) 74-76-68, Todd Sinnott (Australia) 71-72-75
219 – Matthew Griffin (Australia) 76-72-71, Nino Bertasio (Italy) 75-72-72, Nick Cullen (Australia) 72-74-73, Anthony Brown (Australia) 73-71-75, Pablo Martin Benavides (Spain) 75-67-77, Mark Foster (England) 69-73-77
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