Ieremia shines to give New Zealand 54-hole lead at Eisenhower

New Zealand continues to impress on the world stage by holding the 54-hole lead at the 2018 World Amateur Team Championships in Ireland overnight.

It was another great day for Denzel Ieremia, Daniel Hillier and Kerry Mountcastle who now lead by three shots over Thailand, Spain and the USA entering the final round of the Eisenhower Trophy.

Waikatos Ieremia shone on the Montgomery Course today with a clinical round of seven-under par to also take a share of the lead at 16-under in the individual standings after his second consecutive bogey-free round.

"I do like Monty [Montgomery Course] - I think the course sets up good for me. I basically played the same as I have all week, just solid and stayed patient, hit a few good shots and holed some putts," said a calm Ieremia.

"I am very excited. We are in a good position heading into tomorrow and its just a testament to the way all the guys have prepared and how weve planned our way around these two golf courses."

This team is one step closer to emulating the history of Michael Campbell, Phil Tataurangi, Grant Moorheard and Stephen Scahill who famously won the Eisenhower Trophy for the first time back in 1992.

"That would be really cool. Ive played team golf in college and Ive always thought winning a team event is way more thrilling than winning an individual event. So to have the opportunity to go and convert tomorrow is great and we have got a good group of guys to do it," beamed the in-form Ieremia.

Mountcastle was back in form today and with two of three scores counting, he was looking likely to record his first team score, but a late run from Hillier who made four birdies in five holes meant that his round of three-under par was counted as he moved into fourth place on the individual leaderboard at 14-under.

Hillier has made the most birdies in the field with a whopping eight birdies in every single round this week (24 in total) but has been unable to keep a clean sheet with five bogeys today costing New Zealand an even bigger lead.

Mountcastle is excited to potentially be part of history as we enter an exciting final day.

"Its very special, we [New Zealand] have only won this once and to be in this position with this group of guys, the team we have over here and all the support back home, its just amazing," said Mountcastle who found form today.

"I definitely felt a bit better today score wise and to know that these two are still playing that good and I dont have to is great. I dont need to be needed. If I shoot two-under and dont get used thats fine by me. Ill go deep tomorrow."

As the country prepares for sleep tonight in New Zealand, Ieremia, Hillier and Mountcastle will tee off in search of a huge slice of history on the biggest stage in the world in Ireland.

UK Tee Times

Kerry Mountcastle 1:21pm

Daniel Hillier 1:32pm

Denzel Ieremia 1:43pm

Full Teams Leaderboard

Full Individual Leaderboard

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