Wracked by loneliness and trying to forge his way through the Japan Golf Tour, Quayle leant on the advice of Adam Scott’s father, Phil, and sought to reignite his career on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia.

Missed cuts at the 2024 Queensland PGA Championship and Ford NSW Open were an indication of a talent short on confidence.

That confidence came flooding back when he surged through the field with an 8-under 63 on Sunday at Royal Queensland Golf Club to finish tied third a year ago, the first of five top-five finishes in six events. 

He teed off this week as a member of the DP World Tour by virtue of his finish on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit. He’ll start the final round with a host of internationals and five PGA TOUR-winning Aussies trying to chase him down.

“It’s funny, going into the last round last year I was driving here with my girlfriend I remember saying to her, ‘I could go out and shoot 62 today and contend and it could change everything’,” Quayle said after a 4-under 67 on Saturday punctuated by a two-hour weather delay.

“I didn’t shoot 62, I shot 63 and I did contend and it did start to change things for me.

“That last round was just such a massive momentum shift with my career. Tomorrow could be a chance to take it another step further.”

Quayle shares the 54-hole lead at 13-under par with a pair of Europeans seeking to become the first international winners of the Kirkwood Cup since 2016.

Twenty-three-year-old Spaniard David Puig was one of four players to shoot 6-under 65 on Saturday as Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia (66) sits poised to better his tie for 24th at RQ 12 months ago.

A member of Fireballs GC on LIV Golf, Puig’s only experience in Australia is at LIV Adelaide where he finished fourth in February and has shown an instant liking to Royal Queensland.

“You can’t miss second shots here to the wrong side,” said Puig.

“The pins are really tucked in and then you’ve got to play to the fat part off the green.

“I think I did that pretty good and that made me have a bogey-free round, first of all, and not have much stress besides two or three holes in the middle.”

At 34, Gouveia has seven wins on the secondary tour in Europe and is widely regarded as Portugal’s greatest ever golfer.

A first DP World Tour win in Brisbane on Sunday would cement that legacy.

“All last season I played really well, especially in the first half of the season,” said Gouveia, who was 14-under through 13 holes before dropping shots at 14 and 16 to go with a birdie on 15. “Unfortunately, the second half wasn’t my best, but still felt good with the game.

“It was just little details and I knew it was close. I have a lot of confidence in myself at the moment to finish the job.”

Another player not short on confidence is Min Woo Lee.

Insisting he is yet to show his best this week, the 2023 champion sits just one back alongside Kiwi Kazuma Kobori (69) after a 4-under 67 in Round 3.

“I’m going to be confident tomorrow,” said Lee.

“I feel like I haven’t had my best stuff yet, so hopefully tomorrow can be that day.

“It’s going to be exciting and it’s going to be challenging, so it’ll be fun.”

Saturday began with 24 players completing their second rounds, Queensland pair Will Florimo and Quinn Croker both making birdies on their final holes to make the cut at 2-under. Croker then proceeded to play his way inside the top 20 with 18 to play with a seven-birdie 6-under 65.

A predicted storm forced a suspension of play at 11:05am, players resuming their rounds at 1:15pm AEST.

The final round will tee off at 6:10am on Sunday morning with the final group off at 11am AEST.

Live coverage of the final round will begin on both Channel Nine and Kayo Sports at 11am AEST