First-time Australian representative Phoenix Campbell made his move on a soggy Saturday in Japan to leave himself excited about his final day prospects at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Taiheiyo Club Gotemba.

To complete a hat-trick of Australian wins at the AAC, Campbell will need to produce a Sunday charge that matches what Jasper Stubbs completed at Royal Melbourne last year when he started his final round six from the lead before winning in a playoff.

In his favour, with the 2024 tournament still trying to get back on schedule after losing almost six hours of play due to heavy fog on Friday, Campbell has 28 holes to complete on the final day to make up the gap.

At 2-under-par, the Queensland PGA champion is six shots behind Japan’s Rintaro Nakano after another day where the rain continued to fall in the foothills of Mt Fuji, adding to the more than 100mm that has soaked the par-70 layout since the event began.

After starting with a 71 on Thursday and not hitting a shot on Friday, Campbell made up 22 places on the leaderboard with a second round of 4-under-par 66 which was just one shot outside the tournament low for the week.

The Victorian went bogey-free, picking up birdies on the first, third, seventh and 15th, before narrowly missing a three-metre putt on the par-5 18th for a 65.

His third round in the afternoon gloom was progressing steadily until he double-bogeyed the par-4 sixth. A bounce back birdie on the par-3 seventh sees him tied for 12th heading into Sunday.

“I’m excited about tomorrow,” Campbell said.

“Absolutely I have high hopes.

‘It was pretty crazy at the end there. It was playing super tough, super long and on top of that it was getting dark quite quickly.

“I hung in there. Holed a few putts, hit a few good shots.

“A low round is definitely out there. I’ve just got to get it going tomorrow.”

Nantaro, who started with rounds of 66-67, only made it as far as the fifth hole in his third round and is two clear of China’s Wenyi Ding and Malaysia Rizq Adam Rohizam.

The best of the remainder of the Australian contingent, who all made the halfway cut which came at 7-over, is Stubbs who sits at 3-over-par in a share of 28th.

He improved his position by 12 spots by being -1 through nine holes of his third round before play was halted just after 5pm.

The third round will resume at 7.30am (Aust time) on Sunday with much better weather predicted as the fight to earn prized spot in the 2025 Masters Tournament and Open Championship reaches its conclusion.

Australian scores

2-under: Phoenix Campbell (Vic) 26 holes to play

3-over: Jasper Stubbs (Vic) 27 holes to play

4-over: Tony Chen (Vic) and Quinn Croker (Qld) 25 holes to play; Connor Fewkes (WA) 30 holes to play

6-over: Billy Dowling (Qld) 24 holes to play

9-over: Lukas Michel (Vic) 30 holes to play