Amateur teen sensation Ryan Ruffels will revel in the pressure of chasing his first victory in a professional event after scorching into contention at the Vic Open at Thirteenth Beach.
Ruffels, 16, carded a six-under 66 on Saturday and it could have been even better, as he missed out on a hole-in-one by a couple of inches early in his third round.
The reigning Callaway world junior champion is in outright fourth place at 12-under the card, two strokes behind leader Jason Scrivener, who birdied the final hole for a 68 to be at 14-under for the tournament.
Local amateur Ben Eccles (68) and 2014 Australian Masters champion Nick Cullen (67) were tied for second at 213.
Ruffels played in the hot group of the day alongside Richard Green (67) and Scott Arnold (67), who both finished the day in a six-way tie for fifth at 11-under.
“The mindset in the last round will be the same as any other tournament I’m in contention in,” said Ruffels, the son of former tennis pros Ray and Annamaria.
“I pride myself on being quite good under pressure.
“There’s obviously going to be plenty of pressure out there tomorrow, but it’s cool to have Ben Eccles, another amateur, up there.
“I’ve played OK in pro events, some big ones, but never really been in contention, so this will be the first one.
“We’ll have a crack and see how it goes.”
No amateur has won the Vic Open since Brad Lamb in 2000.
Scrivener, from Western Australia, claimed the outright lead by draining a birdie putt on his final hole.
After his remarkable hole-in-one albatross in the pro-am on Wednesday, Green has been the centre of attention at Thirteenth Beach.
The experienced left-hander would be even closer to the lead if not for a disappointing second round of level-par 72 on Friday.
“I was on the verge of just trying a bit too hard,” he said.
“In this game, when you try too hard, nothing really happens.
“I just had to catch myself a little bit last night and just relax.
“Fortunately, I got back into that mode today.”
Play finished late on Saturday following a 75-minute suspension in the afternoon due to lightning.
