Kiwi Mark Brown has capitalised on ideal scoring conditions at the Clearwater Golf Club with six birdies in his first 10 holes on Saturday to stand alone at the top of the New Zealand Open leaderboard.
Brown is one stroke ahead of fellow Kiwi Michael Hendry, who had also been six under for his round and five under overall until bogeying the par-three 11th.
Hendry nonetheless is second on his own, one ahead of a group at three under that includes 36-hole leader Daniel Fox of Australia.
The others at three under are an unlikely local hope in Peter Spearman-Burn and another three Aussies in Matthew Ballard, Michael Wright and teenage amateur Jake Higginbottom.
Brown was on fire from the first hole of his third round, birdying the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 8th - to reach the turn in five-under 31 - and picked up another one at the 10th.
Hendry, in the group ahead of Brown and also one over through 36 holes, eagled the 2nd, birdied the 3rd, 5th and 8th for an identical front nine and also made birdie at 10 but gave one back with a bogey at the 11th.
Ballard and Spearman-Burn are the hot hands of the group at three under, having started their rounds at even par for the tournament.
Fox teed off at 12:50pm still with possession of the lead, albeit tied with Hendry and Brown as they went on their early birdie blitz.
But the 36-year-old Western Australian fell off the pace when he bogeyed the reachable par-five 2nd, although did drag one back at the 5th.
Brown's six-under number has been matched by Jason Norris, who rocketed up to a tie for 14th with a superb 66.
The Victorian made seven birdies and a solitary bogey, having just snuck under the cut line of seven over by a stroke the previous day.
Martin Dive and Aaron Pike (equal 20th) and Peter Cooke (equal 28th) have all signed for 67s.
The first hole-in-one of the tournament has also been registered by Tasmanian Clint Rice.
The 188m No.9 has played as the second-hardest hole on the course all week but Rice had no problems as he made the first ace of his career.
As well as the ace, four birdies and two bogies saw Rice make it to four under through 16 and even par overall.