“It can be tough, and I think he’s one of the best players out here and there is pressure,” Lee said. “I think it’s just a bit of a fire in his belly over this weekend. I’m sure he’s going to head down and grind, and then show something next week.”
Lee finds himself well in the hunt for the title he claimed in 2023, navigating a two-hour storm delay from around 11am local time to finish the day at -12, just one stroke behind the leaders, going into Sunday’s final round.
Australian Min Woo Lee during the Australian PGA.Credit: Getty Images
While he expressed some frustrations with his putting game, the 27-year-old looked to have found his mojo – launching his third round with a long-range birdie and following it up with two more from outside the green on the eighth and ninth holes.
He is joined on 12-under by overnight leader Kazuma Kobori, who ended Friday with four straight birdies and initially carried that form into Saturday’s third round with two more, only to par the next 16 holes.
“It’s one of those courses where if you’re just off … you can go low,” Lee said. “Of course, you have to have your full A-game, but if you’re just a little off it can bite you in the butt, or you just can’t make birdies.
“No one’s broken out of the pack, but hopefully tomorrow’s the day for it. I’m going to be confident tomorrow. I feel like I haven’t had my best stuff yet, so hopefully tomorrow can be that day.”
While Quayle almost cost himself dearly by missing a makeable putt on 15 which immediately followed a bogey, he rallied to birdie 17 – his third on the ‘Party Hole’ this week – to put himself in the frame for a maiden Australian PGA title.
”It was tricky, I’d birdied three of the first six, and then we came in and when I went back out there … it sort of felt like I was never really in a position for a birdie, and then when I was, I wasn’t able to capitalise,” Quayle said.
“It’s very easy when you don’t have momentum to get a little bit cranky or frustrated or whatever and hit some bad shots and you do pay the price. But I was able to stay pretty collected and just hang tough.”
Australian great Adam Scott – a two-time winner in Brisbane – hauled himself into contention with a rollercoaster 66, offsetting a trio of bogeys with eight birdies. Scott was joined on 11 under by Mark Leishman, who birdied the Party Hole only to bogey the last.
“It’s hard to complain about 66,” Scott said. “It was a bit of a mixed bag today, to be honest – it was a lot of good stuff and there was some squirrelly stuff as well, so it’d be good to clean that up tomorrow.
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“Definitely felt like I rolled the putts better today, so that’s always helpful. I think just with the wind down it’s a little bit easier to attack, and even the pins that are tucked with less green and no wind pushing the ball around, it’s possible to get in there closer.
“I’m going to have to have a really good round [on Sunday]. I haven’t really looked at what the conditions are, but I’m going to have to have a strong front nine like I did today to put myself in it.
“I’m chasing, so I can’t have a hot front and then stall out on the back. There are too many guys up there, it’s too bunched. Someone’s going to have a good round, so it’s going to have to be a beauty tomorrow.”
Defending champion Elvis Smylie shot 66 to sit seven under for the tournament after his level-par second round left him off the pace.
