Golf: Iles hanging on to lead in Aussie champs

New Zealand's Bradley Iles will take a two-shot advantage into the final round of strokeplay at the Australian Amateur Golf Championships in Adelaide today.

The Wellington player shot a one-over-par 74 yesterday for a 54-hole total of 210, five under par.

He holds a two-shot buffer over South Australia's Adam Bland with a further shot to Wayne Berry (New South Wales).

Iles, who was runner-up in the championship last year, found yesterday's hot and windy conditions extremely difficult, although all the afternoon players found things tough, with South Australia's Brad Smith the best with a fine round of 69.

Auckland's Travis O'Connell was the next best of the New Zealanders with a 72 to share in a five-way tie for 10th place on 218, three over par.

The other frontrunning Kiwis faded slightly with Doug Holloway (Hawke's Bay) shooting 77 to drop to a share of 15th place, and Jae An (Rotorua) a 78.

They will be looking for improvement today to finish among the top 32 players who will qualify for the matchplay phase of the event.

Leading scores after the third round of the Australian Amateur Golf Championships at Royal Adelaide Golf Club, South Australia:

210 Bradley Iles, NZ 66 70 74

212 Adam Bland South Australia 73 69 70

213 Wayne Berry New South Wales 70 70 73

215 Brad Smith SA 73 73 69, Robin Hodgetts Tasmania 71 70 74

216 Andrew Tamion Victoria 72 71 73, Mitchell Brown NSW 71 74 71, Andrew Dodt Queensland 72 71 73

217 Jarrod Lyle Vic 72 72 73

OTHER NEW ZEALANDERS:

218 Travis O'Connell (Auckland) 75 71 71

219 Doug Holloway (Hawke's Bay) 71 71 77

222 Kevin Chun (Auckland) 71 76 75, Mark Smith (Bay of Plenty) 74 74 74

223 Jae An (Bay of Plenty) 69 76 78

225 Brad Shilton (Waikato) 75 76, 74, Hamish Robertson (Manawatu) 77 72 76

226 Josh Carmichael (North Harbour) 77 73 76

227 Aaron Mahoney (Canterbury) 77 72 78

230 Josh Geary (Bay of Plenty) 76 75 79

- NZPA