MELBOURNE (Australia), Dec 20: Australia’s Chris Downes maintained his lead in the Australian Open golf tournament after the third round on Saturday.

The 23-year-old Downes, who has led from the start of the tournament, is eight under par after rounds of 67-70-71.

He is one ahead of US Open runner-up Stephen Leaney of Australia and two in front of a group of players including Australians Stuart Appleby and Peter Lonard.

Downes pledged to shut out the stars trying to hunt him down as the tournament winds up Sunday.

Downes believes he can shortly join Australians Adam Scott and Aaron Baddeley, who are the same age as he is and have established international reputations.

Downes will take a lot out of the week, regardless of the outcome of the tournament.

Leaney said he planned to call up memories of his US Open earlier this year, when he was pipped for the title by American Jim Furyk.

Twenty players are within five shots of the lead, including veteran Queenslander Terry Price who had a hole-in-one at the par-three fifth.

But that success seemed to rattle him as he finished on par for the day.

Leading third round scores

208 Chris Downes 67 70 71

209 Stephen Leaney 71 70 68

210 Steven Conran 73 69 68, Stuart Appleby 69 73 68, Matthew Millar 72 69 69, Peter Lonard 68 72 70, Craig Jones 69 71 70, Ricky Barnes (U.S.) 69 69 72, Steve Allan 72 66 72

211 Martin Doyle 73 69 69, Peter Fowler 70 71 70, Matthews Ecob 72 68 71, Jarrod Moseley 71 69 71

212 Scott Hend 71 71 70, Robert Allenby 72 70 70, John Senden 71 70 71

213 Wade Ormsby 74 72 67, Scott Gardiner 74 70 69, Terry Price 73 68 72, Peter Senior 71 68 74, Nathan Green 69 70 74—Agencies