Rourke van der Spuy will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Mopani Redpath Zambia Open after he shot a bogey-free six-under-par 66 in the third round at Nkana Golf Club on Saturday.
He opened his round with a birdie but seemed to be playing cautiously thereafter as he made eight straight pars to go out in 35. It was at the back nine where his round really came alive. A birdie on 10 set things in motion for Van der Spuy and after taking a par on the 11th, he mad further gains on the 12th. That birdie was to be followed by another on 14 but it was the eagle he made on the par-five 17thwhich made his back nine even more solid.
‘That was absolutely special,’ he said about that eagle.
‘I hit a lot of greens today so to finally see a putt, you know, about a 35-40-footer drop, was a nice end to the day, you know, it was kind of burning the edges around the hole all day.’
Now, going to the final round with the type of cushion he has, Van der Spuy welcomes the challenge of being chased, as opposed to coming from behind, and says he will have no pressure whatsoever on Sunday.
‘It’s nice to be finally in this position again,’ he said.
‘And, I would rather be going into the final round with an extra two shots as opposed to coming from behind. But, the guys behind me are playing good golf, so I’m sure it’s going to be a good battle out there tomorrow and I am looking forward to the challenge ahead.’
He is experienced enough to know there should be no need to tamper with his game plan now that it has gotten him to this point and is aiming for nothing less than a win.
‘That’s why we play every week because we want to win.’
‘I’ve had a pretty good game plan all week and I am going to stick to it,’ he said.
Two shots behind Van der Spuy, Justin Harding continued to mount pressure, carding an untainted seven-under 65 to move to 11-under for the tournament. He played solidly all day long, making four birdies on the front nine and three more coming home.
His game plan was very simple, he said, and that was to keep hitting fairways and giving himself opportunities. He did so splendidly on Saturday and he will be among the players to watch carefully on Sunday.
Two shots behind him lurks Daniel van Tonder. His perfect four-under 68 pushed him up to nine-under and onto third on the leaderboard, while Jared Harvey, Jake Roos and Colin Nel share the fourth spot on eight-under. Christiaan Basson and Louis de Jager follow on six-under while Neil Schietekat, Jonathan Agren and Jean Hugo make up the top-10.
Third round leaderboard:
203 – Rourke van der Spuy 70 67 66
205 – Justin Harding 67 73 65
207 – Daniel van Tonder 72 67 68
208 – Jared Harvey 76 67 65, Jake Roos 68 72 68, Colin Nel 68 71 69
210 – Christiaan Basson 70 75 65, Louis de Jager 69 72 69
211 – Neil Schietekat 73 69 69, Jonathan Agren 70 72 69, Jean Hugo 71 71 69
212 – Peter Karmis 73 72 67, JC Ritchie 70 75 67, Steven Lecuyer 69 74 69, Lyle Rowe 73 68 71, Phillip Kasozi 69 72 71
213 – Titch Moore 77 70 66, Martin Rohwer 76 68 69, Fredrik From 74 69 70
214 – Mark Williams 73 70 71, Chris Cannon 71 72 71, Toto Thimba 70 73 71, Doug McGuigan 72 69 73
215 – Ulrich van den Berg 75 71 69, Stephen Ferreira 74 71 70, Dayne Moore 73 72 70, Thriston Lawrence 71 73 71, JJ Senekal 69 74 72, Ryan Cairns 71 72 72, Louis Albertse 73 69 73, Philip Eriksson 72 70 73, Alex Haindl 71 71 73
216 – Wallie Coetsee 77 69 70, James Hart du Preez 73 73 70, Jake Redman 71 72 73, Tyrone Ferreira 74 69 73
217 – Luke Joy 76 70 71, Breyten Meyer 72 74 71, Andrew Odoh 76 69 72, Steve Surry 71 74 72, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 72 72 73, Keenan Davidse 74 69 74
218 – Ruan Conradie 74 73 71, Ryan Tipping 73 73 72, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 69 72 77
219 – Oliver Bekker 75 73 71, Andrew van der Knaap 77 70 72, Ockie Strydom 73 71 75, Jaco Prinsloo 75 69 75
220 – Tyler Hogarty 74 74 72, Jason Viljoen 72 75 73, Vaughn Groenewald 76 70 74, Teboho Sefatsa 76 69 75
222 – Basil Wright 74 73 75
223 – Jason Froneman 73 72 78
224 – Lindani Ndwandwe 73 74 77
225 – Merrick Bremner 76 70 79, Luke Jerling 72 74 79
228 – Thabang Simon 70 78 80, Wynand Dingle 71 75 82
