James Kamte made the most of moving day at the 2016 Zambia Sugar Open by carding a sensational third round, eight-under-par 65 at Lusaka Golf Club.
On 14-under-par, Kamte leads a cramped chasing pack going into Sunday by three strokes.
Kamte’s round included 11 birdies, three bogeys and only three birdies and he was almost left speechless in his post-round interview. ‘It was a special round today. I think I got stuck more into my game plan today. It just was a perfect round, you know. You don’t get too many like this. 11 birdies and three bogeys, I mean I don’t know what to say. It was a good round,’ he said.
Unlike yesterday, Kamte managed to take advantage of the par-fives around Lusaka Golf Club, and birdied four of the five.
‘I played the par-fives badly yesterday. I was one-over on them yesterday. Today I just told myself that I needed to focus until the last hole. It’s great to see that I’m up there and that I’ve given myself a chance,’ he said.
Four players are three strokes further back, with Krugersdorp native Ruan de Smit making the biggest move of out of the bunch.
‘I got off to a slow start, but played really nicely from there. I hit my driver the worst all week, but I think I had 10 putts on the back-nine which definitely helps a lot,’ he said.
De Smit was questioned about what it will take to take home the trophy on Sunday and he simply said: ‘Go low on the back-nine. Just take advantage of the four par-fives on the back-nine and hopefully it’s enough to beat the guys out there.’
Jan Hugo and Ulrich van den Berg join de Smit in second position on 11-under-par for the tournament.
Hugo brought the gathering crowd to their feet on the 18th green with a chip-in eagle to card a back-nine of five-under-par 33.
‘It’s always nice to finish like that. It gives you a little boost for tomorrow. It shows you that you should never give up. That’s probably the motto for the week; you know ‘Anything can happen’. I’ll take that into tomorrow and we’ll see what happens,’ he said.
In typical moving day fashion, Merrick Bremner shot up the leaderboard from a share of 23rd to sole possession of sixth place. His third round six-under-par 66 leaves him four shots off the lead on 10-under-par. ‘I’m really pleased. I set it alight a bit on the back-nine and hit a few shots really close. I drove the ball well and gave myself a lot of opportunities.’
Round two leader Andrew Georgiou finds himself five shots off the pace after an unfortunate triple-bogey eight on the par-five 10th hole.
With an abundance of birdie and eagle opportunities on the back-nine, it will be a fascinating Sunday in Lusaka, and Kamte knows he will need to keep his cool to take home the trophy.
‘I’ve got one hand on the trophy now. I need to just keep my head and just keep going,’ he concluded.
From sunshinetour.com
