Nathan Jordi’s has lost the NT PGA Championship lead on the back of a two-over par third round and will enter the final 18 holes three behind new favourite Andrew Martin.
A wayward chip going into the eighth green sparked a horror run of three bogeys from four holes as the US golfer slipped to nine-under par going into the fourth and final round at Palmerston Golf Course in Darwin.
Martin will enter the fourth round as the new leader at 12-under par after shooting a nerveless six-under 65.
Jordi is tied third with Australian Nathan Barbieri while James Conran is second at 10-under par.
Jordi had played some spectacular golf to head into the third round three shots ahead of the field at the second stop of the PGA Tour of Australasia season.
But the horrendous wedge on the eighth hole started a mid-round stretch in which Jordi gave up the lead on Saturday, and looked like he would never recover.
He flayed the ball right off the tee and barely scraped out of another bunker, showing how hard it is to keep a lead in any golf tournament.
Yet somehow he hung in there to remain with a chance of a career breakthrough win
The fact Jordi was even in Darwin was fascinating in itself.
He only returned to golf this year after serving a five-month missionary, entered the PGA Tour of Australasia’s American Q-school almost impulsively, got some status, then jumped on a plane to play the start of the season.
That’s all unique, but maybe not as bizarre as only using a yardage book for the first time this week.