Louis Oosthuizen dropped two shots coming home on Saturday at the Perth International, but outside of that it was brilliance from the 33-year-old, who signed for 67 and a three-shot lead.
The world number 21 has made 17 greens in regulation for three days in a row. He predicted low scores for Saturday after carding 64 in the second round, and then delivered the goods at Lake Karrinyup Country Club to reach 15-under-par after 54 holes.
‘I played pretty solid the last two rounds, I drove it beautifully. Today was not great off the tee, but iron play was pretty good,’ he said. ‘The putter is behaving. I’m reading the greens very well and I feel like I’m making great strokes.’
He started the round with birdies at the first and third and raced to the turn in five-under-par 31 for the sole lead. Further gains at the 14th and 15th were offset by bogeys at the 16th and 17th and the 2010 Open Champ signed for 67.
He heads into the final round three shots clear of Peter Uihlein and Romain Wattel, who will both look to catch up.
Oosthuizen wasn’t about to make it easy for them.
‘I think anyone will expect to win, but there’s a lot of golf to be played,’ he said. ‘You need to still hit the shots. Around this golf course especially, someone can go three, four under in the first five holes and it changes everything.’
‘I need to play good golf tomorrow, solid golf, give myself a lot of birdie opportunities like I did today, and there’s not much more that you can do then,’ he concluded.
