In summary

  • Takis fired a 3-under 68 with five back-nine birdies to climb into equal fifth at even-par, seven shots off the lead.
  • Zack Swanwick leads with back-to-back 67s after sitting 11 shots back on day one, overtaking defending champion Fifa Laopakdee on Saturday's back nine.
  • Takis, who has made 14 birdies this week, but too many mistakes, says he'll keep attacking flags and hope the leaders falter on Sunday.

Five back-nine birdies helped Takis to a 3-under-par 68 on the South Course at Te Arai Links, to climb nine places on the leaderboard to equal fifth at even-par, seven shots behind the leader, the host nation’s Zack Swanwick, who has surged to top spot with back-to-back 67s.

The nearest challengers to the 2023 Australian Junior champion are fellow Kiwi Cooper Moore (71) and defending champion Fifa Laopakdee (73), who are two shots back at 5-under-par.

Kayun Mudadana (71) and AAC rookie Jonty Lunson (72) are the next best Australians at 2-over-par in a share of ninth.

“I like my chances more than I did yesterday, that’s for sure,” Takis said after playing the back nine in 4-under (32).

“Anything can happen. I'll definitely be aiming at a few more flags tomorrow.

"I mean, if the leaders get off to a bit of a shaky start, you birdie the first three, and then you've got a golf tournament all over again.

"I'm really just going to try to focus on what I can do. If they go shoot 65 tomorrow, it's going to be nearly impossible for me to win, so I just have to do everything I can do and hope for the best.”

Making birdies hasn’t been an issue for Takis this week. He has 14 in total, but too many mistakes, including two bogeys on par-5s today, have set him a big, but not impossible, task for the final day.

On day three, he looked to have dropped out of contention before picking up shots at the ninth, 10th, 11th, 12th and 14th holes.

After three straight pars, the rangy Queenslander then rolled in a 30-footer for birdie at the par-5 18th to carry positive momentum into Sunday.

"Pretty shaky start, missed a couple of putts and really wasn't hitting it the best,” Takis said.

“Then hit one close on nine, and made a few [birdies] in a row there, which kind of switched the momentum, which was nice.

"I played the par-5s pretty poorly, but it was nice to get one there on the last.”

Further down the field are three of the Australian AAC first-timers. Harrison Gomez battled to a 77 to drop to 6-over-par, Wesley Hinton (75) is at 13-over-par, while Sam Cascio (77) is at 16-over.

After leading since Thursday morning, Laopakdee gave up the top spot on the back nine on Saturday with Swanwick, who was 11 shots back at one stage on day one, now the favourite to lift the trophy tomorrow.

LIVE SCORES: https://www.aacgolf.com/live-scores

TV COVERAGE: The Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship is live on Kayo Sports and Foxtel. Final Round: Sunday Noon–3pm