Maverick rises further to Open radar

Maverick Antcliff dries a pairing shot on the 11th during Round 3 of the Australian Open

If you have not heard of Maverick Antcliff yet, here comes your clip-notes intro.

The Queenslander recently threw a coin, just at his second Australian Open, to determine what he would do with his once flowing locks.

The coin came up and its once famous moons hit the ground.

The only thing that made him nervous about that toss was whether his girlfriend – who had never known him without his expansive "do" – would still love his looks.

"Luckily she did, so it's all going on right now," Antcliff joked after his third round 69 in The Lakes threw him to the edge of the fight at five under, eight shots behind runaway leader Abraham Ancer.

So that would certainly justify a form of consideration that is deeper than his hair care choices.

"It's fun, I have not really thought about it," said Antcliff about his 9th place in The Lakes.

"I've just tried to assess the wind for five hours, so I'm a bit in the zone, I think.

"At the beginning of the day I was clearly a bit nervous, because it's just fun to be around on the weekend."

Ahh, finally some nerves!

So he would probably look forward to driving a few radars tomorrow?

"No, they have no idea who I am, I love it

"I like doing business, like when I went to the (United) states and then came under the radar again."

Antcliff, very much a character, even as an off-Broadway version, would not be unfamiliar to fans of American collegiate golfing.

He became pro after his last year at Augusta University in 2015-16 and began to compete at the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia and the PGA Tour China.

But in his time "Stateside", he was fruitful in guiding two Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championships to advance to the NCAA regional finals

He led the team's batting average as a first-year student and laid down three top-five finishes before being named an All-American Scholar in 2016.

But that will not matter to the affable Queenslander if he supports his rounds of 73-69-69 in the last round of tomorrow and brilliantly escapes on the side of the draw that is most affected by the weather.

Just do not ask him to let his hair celebrate.