The third round of the final stage of qualifying school held at Randpark Golf Club turned out to be another Todd Clements show as the Englishman’s continued form proved a little hot for the chasing pack on Wednesday.
With round three delayed to allow for the players who did not finish the second round due to bad weather to wrap up their round, Clements took to the tee box about half an hour after midday, looking to extend his overnight cushion of three shots at the summit of the leaderboard.
Starting off the 10th, Clements had a shaky start, making a bogey on that par-four, before steadying himself to collect a par on the next hole. He found his rhythm soon after, making birdies on the 12th, the 14th and the tricky 17th hole to go turn in 34.
His 10th, the first hole of the course, was as shaky as his first had been because the same pattern unfolded when he made a bogey, a par and birdie. He went on to make two more birdies without dropping another shot to finish four-under par and take his tally to 17-under for the week.
‘Today the conditions were so far different to the other days,’ said Clements, who is ranked 18th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
‘It was challenging but these are the days you look forward to, they can make or break you. I think I played well because I thought today was a bit more challenging than the other days but I found things here and there, so I am delighted.’
His quality is there for all to see and whether he can maintain his form in the next two rounds is a matter of little debate. The man has a plan and he has stuck to it in the last three days, but the most striking aspect about him is his calmness in the face of a strong challenge.
‘I feel really confident in my game and the strategy that I have found for this track,’ he said. ‘I’ve got a good thought process behind me. The biggest strategy for me is patience, and John my caddie, said to me “forget about that first shot, you know you’re better than this so just be patient”, and that’s what I did.’
Following five shots adrift, Louis Albertse gave a good account of himself with a two-under 70 round to take his total to 12-under. While his round started with a measure of calmness and control, making a birdie and pars on his first five holes, he made a double-bogey on the sixth and looked like he’d struggle. He came back nicely, though, taking a par, a birdie and a par on the front nine.
Homewards, he made four straight pars, back-to-back birdies on 14 and 15, another dropped shot on the following hole and a birdie and par to round off a solid display of character. The biggest mover, however, was Jason Smith whose 68 left him lying third on the leaderboard on 10-under while Thriston Lawrence’s 70 placed him fourth on nine-under for the week.
With the weatherman predicting heavy thunderstorms for Thursday, it will be interesting to see how things will play out but one thing is certain, there are some quality golfers here this week and things will only get better from here on.
Third round leaderboard:
199 – Todd Clements 67 64 68
204 – Louis Albertse 69 65 70
206 – Jason Smith 70 68 68
207 – Thriston Lawrence 71 66 70
208 – Victor Lange 70 70 68
209 – Gideon van der Vyver 71 67 71, Erhard Lambrechts 66 73 70, Ruan Huysamen 74 68 67
210 – Theunis Bezuidenhout 72 66 72
211 – Anton Haig 71 72 68, Heinrich Bruiners 73 67 71, Damon Stephenson 70 70 71
212 – Jason Viljoen 69 67 76, Philip Eriksson 69 71 72, Duane Keun 72 67 73
213 – Jade Buitendag 71 71 71, Michael Schutz 70 71 72, Ruan Conradie 73 70 70
214 – Matthew Rushton 73 71 70, John Mc Clean 72 72 70, Matt Bright 71 72 71, Roberto Lupini 72 70 72
215 – Philip Geerts 73 70 72, Jeff Inglis 70 73 72, Tristen Strydom 72 71 72, Basil Wright 75 67 73, Steven Lecuyer 71 72 72, Dongkwan Kim 70 72 73
216 – Marthin Scheepers 75 73 68, Coert Groenewald 75 70 71, Arthur Horne 71 74 71, Carlo Heunis 72 72 72, Teboho Sefatsa 71 72 73, Ruan Korb 70 70 76
217 – Jason Rossiter 73 73 71, Conway Kunneke 71 70 76, Ty Capps 72 74 71, Pieter Moolman 75 69 73, Dylan Kok 74 71 72, Ruhan van Dijk 69 74 74, Estiaan Conradie 73 70 74
218 – Wayne Stroebel 68 74 76, Morne Buys 74 72 72, Sipho Bujela 74 71 73, Makhetha Mazibuko 76 68 74, Letsoso Letsai 75 66 77, Ben Robinson 68 75 75, Jason Diab 73 71 74, James du Preez 72 72 74
219 – Albert Venter 70 75 74, Jason Roets 77 70 72, David McIntyre 77 71 71, David Mofokeng 73 71 75, Andrew Burmester 71 70 78
220 – Tomasz Anderson 73 75 72, Sean Bradley 72 71 77, Tyler Hogarty 73 73 74, Paul Boshoff 75 72 73, Luke Trocado 70 70 80, Tertius van den Berg 72 76 72
221 – Martin Rominger 74 73 74, Antonio Costa 73 76 72, PH McIntyre 72 74 75, Keaton Slatter 75 69 77, Bruce McDonald 72 68 81
222 – Caylum Boon 72 75 75, Ben Amor 72 76 74, Dwayne Basson 75 77 70, Benjamin Follett-Smith 81 71 70
223 – Dayne Moore 77 69 77, Bryce McCabe 77 72 74, Greg Bentley 80 70 73, Andrew Morris 72 76 75, Kyle Barker 74 73 76, Thabiso Ngcobo 78 72 73
224 – Michael-James Steyn 78 74 72, Rick Palonis 73 77 74, Jonathan Waschefort 78 73 73, CJ Levey 75 71 78, Jimmy Mullen 74 72 78, Marco de Beer 71 77 76, Clinton Grobler 72 74 78
225 – Christian Larsson 74 77 74, PJ van der Merwe 73 76 76, Eric Nel 77 71 77, Matthew Spacey 73 75 77
226 – Luke Brown 78 74 74, Gerard du Plooy 76 74 76, Arno Pretorius 75 76 75, Stuart Smith 73 75 78
227 – Maritz Wessels 79 71 77
228 – Shalan Govender 72 77 79, Richard Joubert 75 75 78
229 – Hayden Griffiths 75 76 78
230 – Brett Liddle 79 78 73, Juran Dreyer 78 72 80, Seb Crookall-Nixon 75 77 78, Keagan Thomas 78 78 74
231 – Teddy Mathebula 75 78 78, Dylan Mostert 73 80 78
234 – Jens Hillermann 76 75 83
235 – Jastice Mashego 81 80 74, Irvin Mazibuko 73 78 84
238 – Iron-Byron Sampson 75 82 81
243 – Mohodi Motloung 81 79 83
RTD – Justin Turner 76 RTD RTD, Warric Dyers 81 RTD RTD
