Adam Scott rolled the dice and came up a winner to keep his Australian Open title hopes flickering with a third-round three-under-par 68 on Saturday.
The former world No.1 felt his tournament slipping away before wowing the big greenside gallery with a spectacular last-hole eagle.
Scott drilled a 180-metre five iron to four metres and drained the treacherous downhill putt to surge from one over to under par in the blink of an eye.
His late heroics, after taking bogeys on the 15th and 17th holes, left the popular former champion with just a glimmer of hope entering Sunday's final round at The Australian Golf Club.
"It's huge for tomorrow," Scott said of his eagle three.
"Just teeing off under par is always a good feeling.
"I clawed my way back into red figures and I can tee off tomorrow hopeful of something special."
Treading water eight shots adrift of third-round leader Matt Jones before teeing off on the 486-metre par-5 18th, Scott knew he had no choice but to pull the trigger despite having little margin for error.
"It's a scary shot to go for it there, even with a five iron," he said.
"If it starts going left, it's in the left bunker and if it's right, it's obviously water.
"I struck it good and I was just hoping it was going to get up.
"If it splashes, my tournament's over realistically. Even if I up-and-down it, starting tomorrow at one over, unless they come back, I'm pretty much done."
Starting his day at two over, Scott began his charge with three birdies in his first 11 holes before coming unstuck late on the back nine.
But he was delighted to hang tough and then finish in style.
"Even though I didn't hit a lot of great shots, my scrambling was 10 out of 10, that's for sure," he said.
"The course just doesn't give you a lot. You've got to hit quality shots and wait for your moments and if you hit a few poor ones, it gets pretty tough on a lot of the holes out there."
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