Golf: Hole-in-one shakes up the third round leaderboard

Australian golfer Nick Flanagan after his hole in one in the third round of the ISPS Handa New Zealand Golf Open. Photo: photosport.nz

Australian Nick Flanagan is the best performer early in the third round of the New Zealand Golf Open after securing a hole-in-one on the 127m par-3 second.

He backed that up with birdies on the sixth, seventh, 10th and 15th holes to be six-under par for the day, and 13-under for the tournament.

Flanagan paid tribute to the still and fine weather for his low-scoring.

"It like playing in a dome; the weather's perfect and the scoring shows that.

"Anything around six or seven-under is going to move you up [the leaderboard] but nothing crazy because there are too many good players and the course is playing too well."

The ace was the fifth of his career, but the first at a professional tournament.

"It was a straight forward shot - a wedge down the hill. The ball has been getting to that green quick over the last couple of days.

"I took a bit off the wedge, landed it a foot past the hole and it spun back.

"One of the boys called it two to three seconds beforehand."

Flanagan is three shots adrift of fellow Australians Terry Pilkadaris and Callan O'Reilly who lead the field at 15-under par through two holes today.

Pilkadaris is chasing his first title in 13 years.

O'Reilly set a course record at The Hills yesterday with an 11-underpar round of 61.

Nick Voke is the best of the New Zealanders today.

He is four-under par through 10 holes to be 13-under overall, one shot behind fellow Kiwis Harry Bateman, Tim Wilkinson and Mark Brown.

Brown completed a five-under par round of 66.