Matthew Millar plays out of the bunker on Saturday. Credit:Getty Images From that point on, he has finished tied sixth, seventh, second, first (at the New Zealand PGA Championship), tied 44th, tied 10th, tied 21st, second again, tied eighth and tied second again to bank almost $90,000 in prize money. And counting. Going into the third round of the Australian Masters on Saturday, Millar sat at No.5 on the order ofmerit. But going into the final round on Sunday, he has given himself a chance to rocket further up those standings. Millar is the unlikely leader of the event at Huntingdale Golf Club, after being one of the few players able to negotiate brutal playing conditions on Saturday to score a three-under round of 68 to be at seven-under for the tournament.

That gave him a one-shot lead over the field that included world No.12 Adam Scott now way back at two-under after he capitulated with a six-over round of 77. Had he known that a betting agency would let him write his own ticket on himself making this kind of season, it's doubtful that even Millar would have taken a piece of the action. Yet having said that, "backing himself in" is how he got here. "I have just changed the way I think about things, it's all upstairs," he said. "Even when you've played in big events and on big tours, sometimes the belief is not there. You feel like maybe you shouldn't be there. But now I've gone the complete reverse. I've just backed myself the whole way. "I'm not doing anything differently technique-wise. It's just been a whole different outlook." Throughout his career, Millar has played on the European PGA Tour and, in 2011, qualified for the British Open, finishing tied 63rd. So he can seriously play, and the knowledge he has built up since turning professional in 1999 is now something other players on the tour are trying to tap into.

Millar teaches golf part-time in Canberra, but has recently started helping players such as West Australian Daniel Fox and Andrew Evans from NSW. "They have both come and asked for a bit of help," Millar said. "I haven't pulled their swings apart and done everything for them," he said. "I've just basically spent a bit of time with a couple of them and offered them a little bit of advice, as well, things that I've learned. "But they are the ones doing the work, not me." To say he has passed on his Midas touch would be an understatement.

Consider that Evans, who doesn't have full status on the Australasian Tour, will play with Millar in the final round of the Masters after moving to six-under on Saturday with a solid one-under round of 70 in the tricky winds. The 29-year-old lost his tour card last year but has managed to qualify for several events, including the Masters, and his game has found new life since asking Millar for assistance three weeks ago. Millar said he enjoyed playing with those he was helping, but that help stopped once they teed it up — especially when a golf jacket was up for grabs. "I don't talk about anything to do with their game during a round. I just play my game," Millar said. "I might watch them with a keen eye here and there on a couple of shots, but not many.

"I might see a few of their shots and give them a thumbs up or whatever, but that's about it." Fox, too, has found his own purple patch of form recently. From his last 15 rounds – the West Australian is 43-under par, winning the WA Open, finishing runner-up at the WA PGA Championship and placing in the top five at the NSW Open. That included an impressive six-under round of 65 in the first round of the Australian Masters on Thursday – which put him just one shot behind Scott after day one – and the 38-year-old has kept it going, escaping Dodge City on Saturday with an even round of 71 to be equal eighth at three-under. Fittingly, Fox played with his new mentor Millar across the first few days of the Masters.