An inaugural Japan-Australasia champion will be crowned at Royal Auckland and Grange Golf Club today, with Australian Ryan Peake taking a two-shot lead into the final round. <\/p>\n
Third round report<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s Ryan Peake is in pole position to claim his second big New Zealand professional golf title in just over a year after seizing the outright lead at the inaugural ISPS Handa Japan-Australasia Championship on Saturday.<\/p>\n
But last year\u2019s NZ Open champion has a long list of contenders close behind heading into the final round, including the highest-ranked Kiwi in the field this week, Kazuma Kobori.<\/p>\n
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n As many as seven shots behind at one point, Kobori turned an ordinary day into a good one by racing up the leaderboard with four straight birdies to close out his day at Royal Auckland and Grange Golf Club.<\/p>\n Reaffirming his belief that his game is in great shape, Peake shot a five-under-par 67 to move to 13-under-par overall, two shots ahead of Kobori, whose late rush saw him post a 67, and Australian James Marchesani, who carded a 66.<\/p>\n A massive group of 10 players is at 10-under, including two host club members \u2013 17-year-old amateur Ryan Xie, who matched the course record with an 8-under-par 64 on Saturday, and the more experienced Nick Voke, who regained some ground by picking up shots in his last two holes to shoot a one-under 70.<\/p>\n The pack tied for fourth also includes the leading Japan Golf Tour player Aguri Iwasaki (68) and one of the co-leaders after 36 holes, Jay Mackenzie (71).<\/p>\n Peake seized the outright lead by snaring six birdies without a bogey in his first 14 holes, building a lead of four shots before he bogeyed two of his last four.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be honest, out of the three days that we\u2019ve played, that\u2019s the worst I\u2019ve actually played. I just felt I was under the pump all day,\u201d Peake said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m still stinging a little bit from that finish. I just hit a few poor shots coming home there.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not really looking forward to the conversation in about 10 minutes with my coach.\u201d<\/p>\n