Memories of a wire-to-wire Irish Open win, of Tiger Woods at Kingston Heath in 2009, and a stronger desire than his main US rival to win, will fuel a desperate final day charge from Lucas Herbert at the Australian Open.

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The boy from Bendigo paddled on moving day as little known Ryggs Johnston, ranked 953 in the world, issued a challenge, taking the lead before surrendering it after being “sandbelted”, on the 12th hole, before finishing level with Herbert ahead of a long list of hopeful chasers.

That pack doesn’t include Cam Smith, however, with the former British Open champ going backwards as his campaign fizzled on a difficult day for plenty.

Johnston reeled off five birdies in six holes to jump to a two-shot lead before an ugly double-bogey, after four errants shots all found sandbelt scrub, brought him back level with Herbert after a four-under 68.

Herbert, who has been on top of the leaderboard after each of the first three rounds, sits on 14-under, the same number he started the third round on alongside 24-year-old Johnston, the duo two-shots ahead of six players at 12-under.

Having visited Kingston Heath enough times to see all the previous Australian Open champs, Herbert, 28 has long salivated over the possibility of joining them.

After taking time to “decompress” following his “frustrating” third round even-par 72, he said he’ll use the advantage of playing in the final group to load up the pressure on Johnston and show how much he wants to win.

“It’s been tricky not to walk past the lead or the honour board in the clubhouse in there and see the last couple of names that are on that from winning major tournaments here,” he said.

“So it’s probably the other thing about today was, you know, maybe it got more frustrating, because I really want to win this.

“It looks so easy for Ryggs, who doesn’t probably care about the Australian Open as much as I do with no do with no disrespect to him.

“It just means so much being a my home national Open.”

Elvis Smylie, the Australian PGA winner looking to become the first player since 2005 to do the PGA/Open double and join a list including Greg Norman and Peter Thompson, is among those six along with defending champ Joaquin Niemann,

The Chilean, who arrived in Melbourne after his honeymoon, ripped apart Kingston Heath, which was waterlogged after a day full of rain, with an eight-under 64 to storm into contention.

In Herbert’s favour are the fact he won the 2021 Irish Open having led all the way, as he has done this week.

“For me, the Irish open is maybe mentally the win that I put the highest in my head because I led the whole way, and I played in the final group,” he said.

“I watched everything happen in front of me, and still played the way I did. So I think there is something to be said for playing in that last group and watching it all unfold.”

Herbert is looking to become the first Australian since Matt Jones in 2019 to win the men’s Open.

LEADERBOARD

14-UNDER – Lucas Herbert, Ryggs Johnston (USA)

12-UNDER – Jasper Stubbs, Wenyi Ding (CHN), Oliver Lindell(FIN), Elvis Smylie, Joaquin Niemann (CHI )

Turning to the women and South Korean amateur Hyojin Yang was the sole leader at the start of Round 3.

Yang was -9 for the tournament but has since fallen to -6 after a +3 round while compatriot Jiyai Shin, starting the day on -8, improved to -12.

But 2024 Greg Norman medallist Hannah Green, who was two shots behind the pace on -7 entering the day, recorded six-straight birdies to surge to top spot.

South African Ash Buhai, who is aiming for three straight wins at this tournament, was well within reach entering the day and hit four-under to sit third at 10-under overall.

HOW TO WATCH

Watch all the Australian Open action on Kayo and Foxtel, with every big moment broadcast on Fox Sports channel 503 – which has become a dedicated Australian Open channel for the week.

Coverage begins at 12pm AEDT each day.

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