Hutson in control at the NZ Men's Stroke Play Championship

North Harbours Mark Hutson (Muriwai Golf Club) remains in control at the New Zealand Stroke Play Championships after shooting a five under par 67 at the Hastings Golf Club today.

Starting the day with a two shot lead the 20 year old showed that he has been a class above the rest this week, registering the round of the day and stretching his lead to five.

Hutson was out of the blocks quickly registering birdies on the 2nd, 3rd and 5th holes before a bogey on the 11th bought him back to the field slightly.

Any chance that his nearest chasers had after that was quickly extinguished as he birdied the 14th and 16th before holing a huge 15 metre birdie putt on the 18th green as his nearest rivals looked on from the adjacent practice putting green.

"Today was all about sticking to the game plan I have had all week, hit greens and give myself opportunities with the putter. I missed a few shortish ones today but I managed to hit enough greens and holed a good one on the last to make the day a bit better," said Hutson.

"Any lead Im happy with but Ive still got 18 holes tomorrow so Ill still have to play a pretty solid round and see what happens."

"My game is good, I have a trip coming up to the UK to play some of the tournaments over there so its good to have some good results back home so I feel like I can go over there and compete so this is exactly what I was looking for heading towards that trip."

There are some cool events coming up this year I would love to be a part of and a good day tomorrow would really help me in that aspect. Im really looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully I can hold off the rest of them."

The best of the rest are led by Harry Hillier (Te Puke Golf Club) who also birdied the 18th hole to remain within a sniff of victory.

Hillier had five birdies and two bogeys in a three under par round today and knows that tomorrow he will have to take advantage of every opportunity if he is to mount a challenge.

"I just have to take advantage of the par fives and heat that putter up and make some birdies. I birdied one [of the par fives] today so have to take advantage of those," he said.

Whilst the rest of the field will be hoping that Hutson comes back to them slightly, Hillier remained confident and still believed that he was a winning chance.

"Ill be going for at least five to ten under so I dont need Mark to stumble, I just need to play well."

Outside of Hillier the only realistic winning chances look to be the three players on eight under par and while Daniel Hillier (Manor Park Golf Club), Henry Spring (Whakatane Golf Club) and Kerry Mountcastle (Masterton Golf Club) are all high quality amateur golfers they will need something special to run down Hutson who all week has looked unflappable.

The New Zealand Mens Stroke Play tees off tomorrow from 11am after the New Zealand Womens Stroke Play which starts at 7:45am.

Leading Scores after Round Three

2017 New Zealand Mens Stroke Play Championship

Hastings Golf Club

23-26 March

Par 72

201 Mark Hutson (Muriwai) 65 69 67

206 Harry Hillier (Te Puke) 70 67 69

208 Henry Spring (Whakatane) 72 67 69, Daniel Hillier (Manor Park) 71 67 70, Kerry Mountcastle (Masterton) 70 67 71

209 Reid Hilton (Russley) 69 67 73

211 Nick Coxon (Riverside) 67 72 72

214 Kevin Koong (Muriwai) 77 67 70, Chris Charlton (Riverside) 69 69 76

215 James Hydes (Wainui) 72 72 71

216 Trent Munn (Manawatu) 73 70 73, Ben Slaven (Royal Wellington) 70 72 74, Chang Gi Lee (Pupuke) 73 68 75, Luke Brown (Muriwai) 69 72 75

217 Shaun Campbell (Omanu) 74 71 72, Steven Kuggeleijn (Riverside) 74 70 73

218 Tommy Liu (Royal Auckland) 74 72 72, Jared Edwards (The Grange) 73 72 73, Sam Yoshifuji (Gulf Harbour Country Club) 71 73 74, Oscar Cadenhead (Clearwater) 73 67 78

219 Charlie Smail (Walton) 76 72 71, Thomas Woods (Miramar) 71 73 75, Jonathan Goosman (Remuera) 74 70 75, Stuart Duff (Hastings) 73 70 76

220 Tom Parker (Christchurch) 71 78 71, Sung Jin Yeo (North Shore) 75 73 72, James Eng (Remuera) 76 72 72, Inia Logan (Wakatipu Junior) 75 73 72, Taylor Gill (Bay of Islands Kerikeri Incorporated) 72 76 72, Jonathan Cane (Royal Wellington) 74 73 73, Regan McConaghty (Manawatu) 77 70 73, Fletcher Broderick (New Plymouth Inc.) 80 67 73, Sewoong Bang (Maungakiekie) 74 72 74, Sul (Banaba) Im (Huapai) 70 75 75

222 Christian Nitsche (Whangarei) 75 75 72, Greg Shaw (Manawatu) 77 72 73, Hiroki Miya (Russley) 74 75 73, Karan Nalam (Royal Auckland) 77 71 74, Joe Tiplady (The Grange) 75 73 74, Guy Perry (Manawatu) 76 72 74, Johnny Tynan (Titirangi) 78 70 74, James Morrell (The Grange) 73 72 77

223 Markopolo Fullepp (New Zealand) 76 74 73, Matthew McLean (Harewood) 73 76 74, Ryan Steven (Titirangi) 77 72 74, Jack Turner (Wakatipu Junior) 74 73 76, Matty Tiplady (Maungakiekie) 73 74 76, Joshua Bernhard Rookes (Waitemata) 74 72 77

224 Robert Gregory (Harewood) 75 75 74, Ethan Jones (Manaia) 72 77 75, Tyler Wood (Ngahinepouri) 80 69 75

225 William Howard (Tauranga) 75 73 77, Dean Gray (Masterton) 75 73 77, Cameron Harlock (Royal Auckland) 76 72 77, Jordan Woodall (Cambridge) 75 71 79

227 Jake Lee (Muriwai) 77 73 77, Marcel Boet (Christchurch) 76 72 79

228 Kit Bittle (Wainui) 76 74 78, Jayden Ford (Judgeford) 77 71 80, Dylan Bagley (Hastings) 70 77 81

229 Min Su Se (Tauranga) 76 72 81, Jang Hyun Lee (Maungakiekie) 74 72 83

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Golf NZ