Louis de Jager takes a single-shot lead to the final round of the Eye of Africa PGA Championship after he carded a bogey-free third round of 5-under-par 67 on Saturday.
One shot behind the overnight leader is rookie Victor Lange, eagerly searching for his first win on the Sunshine Tour. Daniel Greene and Jacques Blaauw are on 10-under for the week. Lange shot 4-under for his round with an eagle on 17, and single unwanted bogey on the fifth, while Greene shot 2-under after dropping two shots, and Blaauw finished 1-under on moving day after dropping two shots on the fifth and seventh.
De Jager opened his round with two straight birdies on the first and second. He went on to card an eagle on the par-five eight and sealed the deal with a final birdie on the par-five 17th to finish 11-under par for the week.
The 31-year-old had a smile all over his face as he walked off the 18th.
‘I am really pleased,’ he said.
‘A bogey-free round on any day, I would take it with a smile. So, I am very happy. I had a fast start. It is the second time this week I’ve had a fast start. I then went a bit quiet. I rolled in a nice eagle on the eighth and that kept me going very nicely. I then made a few good saves towards the end. I just hung in there. I then made a good birdie on the 17th to post a 5-under. I am really happy.’
He capitalised on all but one of the par-fives and said it was one of the keys to going low at the Eye of Africa.
‘Yes, it was the key for the low score,’ he admitted. ‘If you drive it well, you get a lot of the opportunities. You don’t have to put yourself under too much pressure on the par-fives. The par-fives this week are quite longish par-fives. You have to make two good golf swings if you want to have a go with an eagle putt. It helps if you made a birdie on a par-five, it takes a lot of pressure off the round and keeps your round going.’
De Jager is not planning to change a lot in his game plan in the final round. ‘My game plan tomorrow would be more of the same. I will just try and hit the fairways, hit the greens and roll the putts in –it’s been working this week. I’ve got a number in my mind and I will just play for that.’
Third round leaderboard:
205 – Louis de Jager 68 70 67
206 – Victor Lange 65 73 68, Daniel Greene 67 69 70, Jacques Blaauw 68 67 71
207 – Jaco Ahlers 70 69 68, Thriston Lawrence 69 68 70, Trevor Fisher Jnr 66 68 73
208 – Teaghan Gauche 71 66 71
209 – Michael Palmer 72 67 70, Bennie van der Merwe 68 69 72
210 – Keenan Davidse 68 72 70, Hennie du Plessis 71 68 71, Steve Surry 67 71 72
211 – JC Ritchie 65 75 71, Matias Calderon 69 69 73
212 – Clinton Grobler 70 72 70, Andre Nel 68 72 72
213 – Vaughn Groenewald 71 71 71, Fredrik From 68 73 72, Kyle Pilgrim 69 73 71, Neil Schietekat 69 72 72, Jake Roos 69 71 73, Jean-Paul Strydom 71 73 69
214 – Coert Groenewald 73 70 71, Estiaan Conradie 67 74 73, Benjamin Follett-Smith 73 70 71
215 – Ruan Conradie 74 68 73, Gideon van der Vyver 70 73 72, Anthony Michael 69 72 74, Allan Versfeld 71 70 74, Erhard Lambrechts 73 70 72, Jean Hugo 73 70 72, Daniel van Tonder 75 69 71
216 – Ulrich van den Berg 72 70 74, Tyrone Ryan 74 68 74, Bryce Easton 71 70 75, Madalitso Muthiya 72 71 73, Jared Harvey 71 66 79
217 – Jack Harrison 72 71 74, MJ Viljoen 72 69 76, Peter Karmis 70 73 74, Merrick Bremner 72 71 74, Theunis Bezuidenhout 71 72 74, Jacques P de Villiers 71 73 73, Damon Stephenson 68 76 73, Neil O’Briain 72 72 73
218 – Kyle McClatchie 72 71 75, Philip Eriksson 72 72 74, Duane Keun 69 75 74, Andrew Curlewis 75 69 74
219 – Mitch Waite 73 71 75
220 – Fezekile Kana 69 73 78, Hennie Otto 72 71 77, Wynand Dingle 71 73 76, Ockie Strydom 71 73 76
221 – Toto Thimba 73 69 79, Franklin Manchest 77 67 77
223 – Riekus Nortje 68 74 81, Mark Williams 73 71 79
227 – Rhys Enoch 72 72 83
Missed the cut:
145 – Luke Jerling 72 73, Louis Albertse 71 74, Ross McGowan 74 71, Colin Nel 70 75, Christiaan Basson 71 74, Gerrit Foster 74 71, Divan van den Heever 73 72, Wallie Coetsee 72 73, Keith Horne 75 70, Toby Tree 71 74, Alex Haindl 68 77, Teboho Sefatsa 74 71, Martin Rohwer 74 71
146 – Jason Viljoen 73 73, Jason Smith 70 76, Ryan Cairns 72 74, Jbe’ Kruger 75 71, Anton Haig 72 74, Andrew van der Knaap 76 70, Jannie Botha 78 68, Dawie Van der Walt 76 70, Rourke van der Spuy 76 70, Ryan Tipping 74 72, Callum Mowat 75 71, Herman Loubser 74 72
147 – Ruan de Smidt 75 72, Jaco Van Zyl 72 75, Matthew Carvell 75 72, Jacquin Hess 72 75, Breyten Meyer 75 72, Luke Joy 69 78, Makhetha Mazibuko 75 72, Jonathan Agren 71 76
148 – Sipho Bujela 74 74, Michiel Bothma 74 74, Doug McGuigan 70 78, Titch Moore 75 73, Rhys West 73 75, Chris Cannon 76 72, CJ du Plessis 75 73, Jake Redman 72 76
149 – JJ Senekal 72 77, Jaco Prinsloo 72 77, Heinrich Bruiners 75 74, Altaaf Bux 75 74, James Pennington 77 72
150 – Michael Scholz 77 73, Keelan Africa 70 80, David McIntyre 74 76, Thabang Simon 75 75, Tyler Hogarty 74 76, Pieter Moolman 77 73
151 – Tyrone Ferreira 79 72, Ruan Huysamen 81 70, Jabulane Mabilane 75 76, Ruben Labuschagne 79 72
152 – Derick Petersen 76 76, Scott Campbell 76 76, Irvin Mazibuko 73 79
153 – Kenneth Dube 72 81, Jason Froneman 78 75, Philip Geerts 77 76, Brian Gondo 79 74, Lyle Rowe 74 79
155 – Basil Wright 78 77, Andre De Decker 76 79, Aubrey Beckley 76 79, Desne Van Den Bergh 78 77
156 – Marthin Scheepers 82 74
157 – Allister de Kock 79 78, James Kamte 80 77, Dean Kupferman 81 76
158 – Maurice Prinsloo 80 78, Stephen Ferreira 77 81, Omar Sandys 77 81, Wayne Stroebel 80 78, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 78 80, Phumlani Maluka 77 81
159 – Dean Nysschen 80 79, Sean Bradley 77 82
163 – Yubin Jung 80 83
165 – Dayne Moore 83 82, Thabo Moraba 78 87
RTD – Dane Vosloo 72 RTD, Kevin Edwards 78 RTD, Greg Jacobs 78 RTD, Jade Buitendag 76 RTD, Sheldon Steyn 80 RTD, Ian Eveleigh 76 RTD, Roberto Lupini 78 RTD, Christo Roos 81 RTD, Adriel Poonan 78 RTD, Desvonde Botes 76 RTD, Henk Alberts 77 RTD, Haydn McCullen 77 RTD, Michael Hollick 80 RTD
