Meronk birdies his way to Open lead

Polish trailblazer Adrian Meronk has continued his extraordinary birdie blitz to seize the Australian Open clubhouse lead in Melbourne.

Meronk bagged nine birdies, including six in the first eight holes, en route to a record-equalling seven-under-par 63 at Victoria Golf Club on Saturday to open up a two-stroke advantage over halfway co-leader Adam Scott.

Meronk made golf history in July when he became the first Polish player to win on the DP World Tour at the Irish Open and may well enter the record books once again on Sunday.

If he does claim the Stonehaven Cup, the 29-year-old will have completed an incredible comeback.

Meronk was four over par late in his first round on Thursday before cutting loose.

He has since racked up 19 birdies and an eagle in 40 holes to surge to the top of the Open leaderboard at 10 under.

After starting the day as co-leader at eight under with Victorian David Micheluzzi, Scott could not buy a putt on Saturday.

He recorded eight straight pars before making a mess of the par-5 ninth.

The former world No.1 found the greenside trap with his three-wood second shot, left his next in the bunker and was unable to get up and down to save par.

The bogey dropped Scott to seven under before he finally collected his first birdie after nailing an approach to tap-in range on the 12th.

Chasing his second Open victory 13 years after his first, Scott was outright second with six holes of his third round remaining.

Min Woo Lee was safely in the clubhouse a further stroke back at seven under after a superb round of 67 featuring six birdies and an eagle and marred only by a double-bogey five at the par-3 fourth.

Micheluzzi, Haydn Barron and New Zealander Josh Geary were also at seven under sharing fourth but still on the course.

It was laborious going on Saturday with Victoria Golf Club flooded with 161 players - 71 men, 78 women and 12 All-Abilities competitors.

Scott's three-ball at the historic dual-gender Open needed more than two-and-a-half hours to get through their first nine holes.

Lucas Herbert expressed his annoyance after taking five hours, 20 minutes for his three-under-par 67.

"It didn't feel like there were many (holes) were we didn't get jammed up," he said.

"This is what happens when you have so many people out on the course.

"It's hard when it's stop-start and you don't feel like you can get that rhythm."

Herbert was sharing third spot before racking up a horror triple-bogey seven on the 17th hole.

He birdied the last to sit at three under for the tournament, trailing Meronk by seven shots.

With officials forced to introduce a second cut after Saturday's round to free up the fairways, only the top 30 players and ties in the men's and women's events will feature on Sunday.

British Open champion Cameron Smith will be the biggest casualty of the contentious double cut after his third-round 69 left the world No.3 at one over and in a tie for 50th.