Paige Pierce torched the back nine, setting up a big finale in Las Vegas. Photo: Alyssa Van Lanen / DGPT

Paige Pierce and Eagle McMahon went a combined 16-under par on the back nine during the third round of the 2021 DGPT - Las Vegas Challenge.

It sets up an absolutely star-studded battle at the top of both leaderboards in the final round of the first Elite Series and Disc Golf Pro Tour stop of the season.

Pierce finished 6 under par, capping the third round with an eagle to take a three-stroke lead over Catrina Allen as the DGPT field heads back to the Innova course. It's a two-player race as both have third place cleared by at least 13 strokes.

That isn't the case on the MPO side of the event.

McMahon torched the back nine of the Factory Course to the tune of 10 under par to take a one-stroke lead over Calvin Heimburg. McMahon, at 35 under on the tournament after the hot round of 49, leads Paul McBeth by four strokes and Ricky Wysocki by six, setting up a battle between four of the five players in the world with at least a 1050 rating.

Ezra Aderhold came into the day with a two-stroke lead but Heimburg birdied the first two holes to tie things up. Aderhold bounced back with a birdie on three and held the lead for the rest of the front nine.

The tide, however, started to turn on the back nine. As Aderhold slipped with back to back bogies, Heimburg and McMahon buckled down. Heimburg birdied hole ten before knocking in a 60-foot putt for eagle on the par-four, hole 11. Heimburg finished his back nine with three more birdies to finish his round at 10-under 51 for a tournament total of 34 under par.

McMahon caught fire on the back nine, going 10 under through the final nine holes, including an impressive eagle on the par 5 hole 12. McMahon was four strokes back on hole 11 and then found himself tied for the lead on hole 14.

McBeth will stay on the lead card for Sunday’s final round after shooting a 7-under, 54. McBeth had several opportunities from circle two, but only made 3 of 11 for a 27% clip.

Wysocki will round out the lead card with a tournament total of 29-under after a 9-under-par 52 round. Aderhold finished his round at 3-under and is tied with Wysocki for fourth place but will be on the chase card for Sunday’s final round.

The two-player race continued in the women’s field.

In round three, it was Pierce getting the better of Allen due to a stellar back nine. Pierce carded the only birdies in the field on the par three ninth and again on the par four 14th.

The turning point came on the 363-foot, par three hole 13. With Pierce trailing by one stroke, Allen found out-of-bounds and took a bogey four while Pierce put her drive inside circle one and canned the putt. The two-stroke swing allowed Pierce to take the lead. 

From there, Pierce was able to add to her lead with a birdie on 14. The two competitors matched each other stroke for stroke on holes 15, 16 and 17. On the 18th, Allen birdied the 632-foot par five, but Pierce did her one better to score the eagle. 

Allen ended her round at 4-under, 63 to put her at a tournament total of 16-under. She will be three strokes behind Pierce who finished her day 10-under for a tournament total of 19-under. 

Jessica Weese will join the lead card and sits in third place after a 1-under round put her 3-under for the tournament. Ohn Scoggins will round out the lead card after shooting a 4-over round to bring her tournament total to 2-under to drop her into fourth place. 

Coverage will begin on the Disc Golf Network at 2:20 pm ET with the men’s lead card teeing at 2:40 p.m. ET and the women’s lead card teeing at 4:32 p.m. ET. Live scoring and stats are available via UDisc Live.

(The Disc Golf Pro Tour contributed to this report)