Leaders hold nerve at NT Am

Cassie Porter is racing today in Alice Springs.

Challenges came, but both Cassie Porter and Jake Hughes had the answers.

Half the leaders will wear that cloak in the final round of the Northern Territory Amateur Championship, after taking their place at the Alice Springs Golf Club today.

With a gust of easterly wind that made scoring difficult in the third round, 16-year-old Porter finished the day she started, ahead of seven strokes in the women's championship, with her 70 leaving her in 11 and three rounds.

But it wasn't all smooth sailing, because despite a bird on the second, bogeys on the fifth and seventh holes brought her hunters closer.

After winning her title in Darwin in 2018, Porter picked up the intrepid start with an inward number of 32 including birdies on her last two holes.

After being introduced to golf by her parents at the age of nine, the bustling Peregian Golf Club member quickly developed her game with assistant professional Daniel Morrison.

"In the beginning I didn't really like golf, but now I just love it," said Porter, whose hero is the in-form Katherine Kirk, a fellow Sunshine Coaster.

"I have worked hard on my game with Daniel for the past three years and I stay with the processes while playing games."

The leading amateur on both the Canberra Classic and NSW Women's Open this summer, Porter will be hard to catch.

St Michael & # 39; s member Kelsey Bennett, who broke the women's record in the second round of Friday, continued her beautiful form with a four-under-69 to sit second to four under.

Stefanie Hall of the Australian is in fourth position four more strokes behind in even par.

The men's championship roared to life in the short ninth hole when another member of St Michael, John Lyras, made the eagle to close Hughes' nocturnal rest until just one blow after an out-of-nine nine-under-34.

However after regular par golf to that point, Hughes immediately responded with a birdie at the same hole to retain the lead.

Holding the wind, the pair of birdies in the background swapped nine in a spectacular display of making a shot with Lyras leading after a birdie two on the difficult 171m 15th hole.

But two late bogeys from the New South Welshman on the 16th and 17th and two closing birdies for Hughes made it possible for the latter to regain its one-stroke margin.

24-year-old Hughes signed for a three-under-69 to lead the men's field at 11 under.

Lyras & # 39; third round 68 leaves him in a chase at 10 under, with Virginia & Zach Maxwell another five strokes back in the third at five o'clock after a 71.

Hughes, his maiden, pursuing NT Amateur on the job he first joined as an 11-year-old, was pleased to maintain his leading role

"I scribbled really well," said Hughes, who reached the last 16 at the Australian Amateur in January at Woodlands in Melbourne.

"I have done a lot of work with my coaches, Dale Lynch and Craig Spence, so hopefully it will continue tomorrow."

The 2019 NT Amateur will finish tomorrow with the final round starting at 7 AM (Australian Central Standard Time).

DETAILS