Daniel Nisbet knows the path golf will take him the next several months.

Places in all but one of his planned remaining amateur events are secure. He will compete at PGA Tour Qualifying School in the fall for a chance to earn his tour card for the final time before the system is restructured. And he hopes to qualify for some Web.com Tour events after turning professional.

There is a plan in place, a process to success in professional golf. Nisbet plans the same methodical approach today at Berkeley Hall's South Course, when he tees off in the final round of the Players Amateur with a one-shot lead on Bobby Wyatt.

"I'm just going to try and play golf and play well," Nisbet said. "There's a lot of things that can happen out here, so I just want to shoot a good score tomorrow and if it works, it works."

Nisbet shot 2-under-par 70 Saturday to reach 11 under for the tournament. Wyatt fired a 5-under 67 to shake off his second-round struggles. He and Nisbet will enjoy a large head start.

The nearest competitor, Auburn's Michael Hebert, is 3 under and eight shots behind Nisbet. Nisbet brushed aside talk that he and Wyatt would play head-to-head today.

"There's more than two people out there tomorrow," Nisbet said. "I'm just going to keep to my strategy of keep hitting fairways, hitting greens and trying to make as many birdies as I can."

Wyatt followed an uncharacteristic second round with another low number, making birdie on two of his final three holes to tighten Nisbet's lead. Wyatt missed a 6-foot putt for birdie on the last that would have matched his opening-round 66.

He started the day four behind but said after a second-round 73 that he was still in decent position. And now he'll have fewer distractions behind him while trying to overtake Nisbet.

"I've got 18 holes left," Wyatt said. "That's a lot of golf."

While Hebert clawed up the leaderboard with a 6-under 66, contenders from the first two rounds melted away, tired of fighting the thick bermuda rough, picking the correct side of the pin to miss an approach and putting to tricky hole locations.

The two names at the top are the quality one would expect at this point, said Florida State's Daniel Berger, who started the day 6 under and closest to Nisbet but faded with a 78 clogged with three-putts.

"I think they are the two in it to win it," Berger said.

Nisbet is another solid round away from joining an impressive champions list and earning a spot in the 2013 RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing. The Aussie hopes to play next year as a PGA Tour member, but will first try for a fulfilling send-off from amateur golf.

He hopes his final event as an amateur is the World Amateur Team Championships, a biennial three-man team event held in October in Turkey, where countries will compete for the Eisenhower Trophy. While he already has entered his other remaining amateur events, he would have to be selected to play for Australia in Turkey. "We'll see how that goes," Nisbet said. "And if that doesn't eventuate, it'll just be focused on tour school."

Nisbet made birdies on Nos. 1, 10 and 12 and closed with six consecutive pars.

Wyatt made three birdies on each side, while giving one back on the par-5 ninth. The Alabama Crimson Tide golfer narrowly missed a hole-in-one on the par-3 16th when his 8-iron lipped out. He rammed in a 20-footer for birdie on No. 17 and put an aggressive stroke on his birdie attempt No. 18, which allowed only two birdies all day and is playing the toughest during the tournament. He settled for par, and will be playing a little catch-up today.

He and Nisbet, part of a final threesome that will include Hebert, insist they will continue to play the golf course.

"You're still trying to play golf the best you can, play the course the way you've planned on it and shoot the best score you can," Wyatt said.

The Players Amateur

At Bluffton, Berkeley Hall Golf Club, South Course, par 72

Third round

Daniel Nisbet 69-66-70--205

Bobby Wyatt 66-73-67--206

Michael Hebert 73-74-66--213

Matthew NeSmith 70-73-71--214

Anders Albertson 71-70-73--214

Ryan McCarthy 71-72-71--214

Sean Dale 71-72-71--214

AJ Crouch 73-72-70--215

Andrew Mason 69-75-71--215

Richard Lamb 73-71-71--215

Cody Proveaux 73-70-72--215

Blayne Barber 69-71-75--215

Brett Drewitt 72-72-72--216

Ben Campbell 71-69-76--216

Daniel Berger 67-71-78--216

Michael Weaver 69-70-77--216

James White 72-76-69--217

Kramer Hickok 71-74-72--217

Andrew Yun 76-69-72--217

Curtis Thompson 74-76-68--218

Jake Higginbottom 73-75-70--218

Matthew Stieger 75-73-70--218

Ryan Heisey 74-74-70--218

Tucker Wadkins 74-71-73--218

Jeffrey Kang 78-70-71--219

Carlton Forrester 74-73-72--219

Anthony Paolucci 73-73-73--219

JD Tomlinson 73-73-73--219

Max Homa 72-74-73--219

Austin Cody 72-72-75--219

Justin Shin 72-72-75--219

Tyler McCumber 76-72-72--220

Zander Lombard 73-74-73--220

Brinson Paolini 73-70-77--220

Ben Kohles 73-76-72--221

Rory Bourke 76-70-75--221

Dominic Bozzelli 71-76-74--221

Bo Andrews 72-74-75--221

Geoffrey Drakeford 73-72-76--221

Keith Mitchell 73-70-78--221

Richy Werenski 76-74-72--222

Oliver Schniederjans 70-78-74--222

Ji Soo Park 74-74-74--222

Zachary Herr 77-72-73--222

Crawford Reeves 76-75-72--223

Rob Simmons 75-77-71--223

Minghao Wang 72-77-74--223

Cameron Smith 72-76-75--223

Failed to qualify

Luke McClellan 224

Oliver Goss 224

Michael Balzer 224

Nick Sherwood 225

Nick Gilliam 225

Cory Whitsett 226

John Voetsch 226

Michael Cromie 226

Mitch Gray 226

Matthew Perry 226

Bobby Hudson 227

Ben Fogler 227

Michael Johnson 228

Anthony Murdaca 228

Shane Lebow 228

Cody Martin 228

Todd Sinnott 229

Chase Parker 229

Daniel Hendry 230

T.J. Mitchell 231

Billy Kennerly 231

Hunter Stewart 232

Mills Rendell 232

Fraser Wilkin 233

Nathan Holman 233

Patrick Grimes 234

Marcel Puyat 234

Matt Cheng 235

Zachary Olsen 237

Stephen Kearney 239

Conrad Ray 241

Rick LaRose 265

Peter Mathison 266

Cameron Wilson WD

Donald Constable WD

Final round pairings

7:15 a.m.: Rob Simmons, Minghao Wang, Cameron Smith

7:25 a.m.: Ji Soo Park, Zachary Herr, Crawford Reeves

7:35 a.m.: Keith Mitchell, Richy Werenski, Oliver Schniederjans

7:45 a.m.: Dominic Bozzelli, Bo Andrews, Geoffrey Drakeford

7:55 a.m.: Brinson Paolini, Ben Kohles, Rory Bourke

8:05 a.m.: Justin Shin, Tyler McCumber, Zander Lomboard

8:15 a.m. JD Tomlinson, Max Homa, Austin Cody

8:25 a.m.: Jeffrey Kang, Carlton Forrester, Anthony Paolucci

8:35 a.m.: Matthew Stieger, Ryan Heisey, Tucker Wadkins

8:45 a.m.: Andrew Yun, Curtis Thompson, Jake Higginbottom

8:55 a.m.: Michael Weaver, James White, Kramer Hickock

9:05 a.m.: Brett Drewitt, Ben Campbell, Daniel Berger

9:15 a.m.: Richard Lamb, Cody Proveaux, Blayne Barber

9:25 a.m.: Sean Dale, AJ Crouch, Andrew Mason

9:35 a.m.: Matthew NeSmith, Anders Albertson, Ryan McCarthy

9:45 a.m.: Daniel Nisbet, Bobby Wyatt, Michael Hebert