Golf: Kiwi's swarm on American leader at Clearwater

Steve Alker. Photo / Getty Images.

The mind boggles what Danny Lee is capable of when he puts all of his golf game together.

He again had issues with his putter today but still fired a three-under-par 69 to remain in the thick of the action heading into tomorrow's final round of the US$600,000 ($1.2 million) New Zealand PGA Championship at Clearwater Resort on the outskirts of Christchurch.

Lee is at nine-under 207 for the tournament, in a share of fourth place, just two strokes behind the leader, American Steve Friesen, who shot 69.

The teenager is one of four New Zealanders inside the top 10, with Steve Alker, boosted by an eagle two when he holed out with a four iron from 167m at the sixth, shooting 67 to be second on 206 alongside first and joint second-round leader, Australian Kurt Barnes, who birdied two of his last three holes for a 71.

David Smail shared elbow space with Lee on 207 after firing a 68 as Canterbury's infamous norwesterlies finally arrived after two days of benign conditions in the Nationwide Tour and Australasian Tour co-sanctioned event.

They are joined on that number by Australian Stephen Dartnall, who shot 68, and Americans Ryan Hietala, 69, and Craig Bowden, 70.

Josh Geary completed the New Zealand quartet in with a loud shout tomorrow after he backed up his hot 65 from yesterday with a 71 to share ninth spot with four others on 208.

Richard Lee remains there or thereabouts after his 71 saw him tied for 14th on 209, the same number as joint overnight leader Gareth Paddison, of New Zealand, who went backwards with a 74.

All up, 21 players are within two shots of the lead, meaning a lolly scramble tomorrow for the major money.

The locals are putting up their best fight in this tournament since it re-emerged on the domestic calendar in 2004 after a 16-year absence.

Only three New Zealanders have obtained top-10 placings in that period, a number that may be boosted considerably tomorrow.

Lee, 18, began today three off the pace, and erased the difference with three birdies in his opening five holes. It got tougher after that but he continued to attack, sometimes at his cost.

What let him down was the flat stick, with Lee needing 28 putts, his best return in three days with the putter, but still not up to his immeasureably high standards.

Still, he is the player everyone is keeping an eye on, the galleries and his rivals alike.

Alker said the absence of New Zealanders from the championship leaderboard in recent years had not been lost on the players.

"Let's hope we can pull one out. We Kiwis have a few New Zealand Opens under our belts but to get this one has been a while coming."

Alker, a Challenge Tour player in Europe after losing his card to the main circuit on that continent, said the arrival of the wind added another two shots at least in difficulty to the course.

"It is a totally different golf course. The leaders haven't really moved today which shows it's a different beast."

Smail, the runnerup here last year when torrential rain reduced the tournament to a 36-hole affair, posted his third successive red number today despite two bogeys.

It could have been worse, though.

"I got very lucky on the 15th when my tee shot went left and finished just a foot short of going in the hazard," Smail said.

He scrambled a par there before signing off in style with consecutive birdies at the 17th and 18th.

While a win for a local would go down a treat, Friesen probably needs it more.

He has full playing card on the Nationwide Tour for the first time this year and, at 31, knows time is running out for him to make an impression.

He takes comfort from the fact that Ryan Palmer, another American who won here in 2003 when the event was called the Clearwater Classic, has since gone on to earn a good living on the PGA Tour in the US.

He and Palmer played college golf together and locked horns on the Tight Lies minor tour, so he knows there is a pathway to the top.

But that will require a victory tomorrow, a prospect which does not daunt him.

"Obviously I will be nervous because it is a huge opportunity.

"But I am going to have to play well. It is not as if I have a seven-shot lead on the field. There are a lot of good golfers real close."

- NZPA WGT md pm