The Wodonga export fired six birdies on the back nine in his eight-under par round of 64 to be a shot clear of Queenslander Damien Jordan.

Murray started his round in steady fashion with six straight pars, before birdies on the 16^th and 17^th got him to two-under heading into his second nine.

He birdied the first three holes of the front nine and added a further three birdies at the fifth, seventh and ninth to equal the course record.

There wasn’t a single bogey on his card.

“I’ve been pretty steady for the last 12 months and been gradually getting better and better with every part of my game,” Murray said.

“My putting really stood up today, it was nice to see a couple of putts roll in.

“I got off to a bit of a slow start, so it was good to roll a few in late and get to the top of the leaderboard.

“I’ve just got to keep tracking along and holing the putts and see where things are at come Sunday.”

Murray resumes at midday today.

Meanwhile, Yarrawonga trainee professional Frazer Droop finds himself four shots off the pace after three rounds of the National Futures Championship at Ballarat Golf Club.

Droop, the defending champion, carded a two-under par 70 on Thursday, but was overtaken by NSW’s Benjamin Stowe who shot a course record 65 to finish the day at nine-under par.

Droop tees-off in Friday’s final round at 9.23am.