Jasper Stubbs is on familiar territory, with family and friends on hand, and he is lapping up the ISPS HANDA Australian Open.

Not only that, he has put himself in contention with his third-round 68 at Kingston Heath, a chance of a win in his first few months as a professional.

Victorian Stubbs, 22, sits just two shots from the lead entering the final round on Sunday having turned pro only this season.

“I mean, my last event before this wasn't the best, but I spent some time getting back to where I know my good golf is, and this for me around Sandbelt golf is just me playing my good golf,” he said. “So it's not unusual. I don't feel out place at all. So it's a nice feeling this early on in my career.”

Stubbs plays out of nearby Peninsula Kingswood Country Golf Club, and has not wanted for support.

“I've got some of the guys from my golf course, PK out this week. My mum and my dad have been out this week. And yeah, golf coaches, friends, family, it's been great to have them out and staying 10 minutes away with mum's cooking is pretty nice as well.”

Another young Australian dreaming the dream is Elvis Smylie, last week’s BMW Australian PGA Championship victor who has backed up strongly and sits tied-third with Stubbs at 12-under par.

The 22-year-old started out hot – three birdies in the first six holes on Saturday – but then his tee shot plugged in a bunker at the par-3 eighth, and he double bogeyed the ninth to lose momentum.

But he never let it slide completely, which is a measure of his new maturity.

For the first time, he had his own mascot, an Elvis impersonator behind the green at the 15th.

“I mean, you can't miss that outfit, so I ended up lagging my putt down from like 15, 20 feet and then I threw the ball right to him because it's pretty cool seeing that stuff though,” he said. “That was probably one of the highlights of the day actually, besides the golf.”

Some commentary about his pace of play – Cameron Smith alluded to it on Friday – did not bother him either.

“I'm not putting too much emphasis on it,” he said. “I mean, I felt like I did a really good job today at making sure that I was always the first person to walk first off the tee box, and I did a good job with my pace today.”