Scott takes lead at Australian PGA Championship

Adam Scott claimed a one-stroke lead after the third round of the Australian PGA Championship on the Gold Coast.

Former world number one and 2013 Masters champion Scott carded a three-under-par 69 to move top of the leaderboard on Saturday.

Scott, who almost helped the International team dethrone the United States at the Presidents Cup in Melbourne last week, had four birdies and a bogey on the penultimate day.

Winner of the co-sanction PGA Tour of Australasia and European Tour event in 2013, Scott birdied the last for the outright lead through 54 holes at Royal Pines, where he is 10 under.

Fairway. Green. Birdie.@AdamScott has the solo-lead #AUSPGA pic.twitter.com/DVowvQGhA3

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) December 21, 2019

Fellow Australian Wade Ormsby is a shot off the pace following his third-round 70, while Nick Flanagan (63), Min Woo Lee (68), Michael Hendry (70) and Yuan Carl Yechun (73) are a stroke further back.

Two-time defending champion Cameron Smith, meanwhile, is five shots behind countryman Scott.

A team-mate of Scott's on the International team this year, Smith is bidding to join Dan Soutar with a third straight Australian PGA Championship triumph – a record that has stood since 1907.

However, Smith lost ground in his pursuit of a three-peat after posting an even-par 72 as he dropped five positions.