David Micheluzzi signed for a 6-under 65 on Thursday
(Golf NSW Photo)

A 20-year-old from Australia, Micheluzzi started his third round with three straight pars before kicking his round into high gear with his first birdie on No. 4 and then quickly adding two more birds on the 6th and 7th holes to reach 4-under for the tournament. Micheluzzi did lose some steam with a bogey on the 8th but that was his only dropped shot of the round and he was still able to turn in 2-under 33.

With the back nine still to come, Micheluzzi again went to work carding four more birdies beginning with his fourth of the day on the 10th along with additional tweeters on Nos. 13, 14 and 17 to close in 4-under 32. Overall the third round saw Micheluzzi birdie seven times and bogey only once.

In recent years Micheluzzi has shown well at the Australian Master of the Amateurs, finishing inside the top 20 each of the least three years. His best showing came in 2016 when he finished eighth. Last year Micheluzzi put together a solid campaign earning points in 11 Golfweek/AmteurGolf.com Ranking events, three of which finishes were top-five showings.

The leader after each of the first two rounds Darcy Brereton is still very much in the picture despite a 2-over 73 on Thursday. Still 6 under and one behind in second place, Brereton battled his way through the third round carding four bogeys and a birdie. However, his 18th-hole birdie might provide just enough momentum for Brereton to make a final round charge and regain his mojo from the first two rounds.

The 23-year-old Brereton, playing on his home course of Royal Melbourne this week, had been ahead by six strokes at the start of the day following rounds of 66-68.

16-year-old American junior golfer Canon Claycomb (Bowling Green, KY) continues to play well and he is in third place at 4 under, Phillip Knowles (North Florida) holds the fourth spot at 2 under while Dylan Meyer (Illinois) has moved into the fifth spot at 1 under where he is tied with Shintaro Ban (UNLV).

Min Woo Lee, Australis'a highest-ranked amateur and a former U.S. Junior champion, is ninth at 2 over.

Reigning Australian Amateur champ Matias Sanchez fell to 10 over and he is in 34th place after 54 holes.

Last year's Master of the Amateurs champion Charlie Dann of Australia is 9 over and in 27th place.