Jean-Paul Strydom returned to the summit of the leaderboard in round three of the RAM Cape Town Open after he signed for a three-under 69 to total 13-under par and take a slender one-stroke lead into the final round at Royal Cape.
On a day when the wind picked up quite early on, it was always going to be a laborious effort to shoot a low score on the wind-ravaged Cape Town course.
The struggle was obvious from the first, as Strydom’s only birdies of the front nine – on the second and fifth holes – were quickly undone by the same number of bogeys on the third and ninth holes.
He seemed to have found something on the homeward stretch as he went birdie-eagle-par from the 10th through to the 12th hole, before picking up another birdie on 13. Back-to-back bogeys, thereafter, threatened to derail his round, but he bounced back solidly, making further gains on the 16th before closing his round with pars on the 17th and the last holes.
‘It wasn’t easy out there,’ Strydom noted.
‘I mean, the wind, we knew it was going to blow today and probably tomorrow as well. But the game plan is to just keep it in play, hit the greens and hopefully make a couple of putts.
‘It’s a tough downwind, tough to try and stop the ball on the greens and stuff like that, but it was good. But it’s unbelievable to be leading with one round to go. I just hope I can finish the job because I have been in this situation before, so I hope to take that experience to tomorrow.’
Zander Lombard lurks dangerously behind him, though, with just a single stroke separating the two players. Lombard also carded a 69, while overnight leader Peter Karmis, Zambia’s Madalitso Muthiya and Thriston Lawrence share the third spot on 10-under par for the tournament.
Michael Palmer and Andrew Curlewis occupy the sixth spot on a total of nine-under, with England’s Ross McGowan, 2017 champion Jacques Kruyswijk, Lyle Rowe, Daniel van Tonder, Justin Walters and Richard Bland sharing the eighth spot.
If the weather persists tomorrow, we are guaranteed an exciting finish to this, the seventh edition of the RAM Cape Town Open at Royal Cape.
Third round leaderboard:
203 – Jean-Paul Strydom 62 72 69
204 – Zander Lombard 68 67 69
206 – Madalitso Muthiya 67 69 70, Thriston Lawrence 66 68 72, Peter Karmis 63 66 77
207 – Michael Palmer 68 70 69, Andrew Curlewis 67 64 76
208 – Ross McGowan 68 72 68, Jacques Kruyswijk 67 72 69, Lyle Rowe 67 71 70, Daniel van Tonder 66 70 72, Justin Walters 66 69 73, Richard Bland 66 69 73
209 – Herman Loubser 71 71 67, Jaco Ahlers 70 71 68, Jack Harrison 71 70 68, Ockie Strydom 69 70 70, Benjamin Follett-Smith 68 69 72, MJ Viljoen 66 70 73, Adilson Da Silva 71 63 75
210 – Keith Horne 69 71 70, Daniel Greene 67 71 72, Ruan Conradie 67 71 72
211 – Neil Schietekat 70 72 69, Wallie Coetsee 69 73 69, Anthony Michael 71 71 69, Victor Lange 71 70 70, David McIntyre 71 69 71, Stephen Ferreira 69 70 72, Christiaan Basson 69 70 72, Heinrich Bruiners 68 70 73, JC Ritchie 66 72 73, Vaughn Groenewald 67 71 73, Jbe’ Kruger 69 67 75, Hennie Otto 71 64 76
212 – Luke Joy 72 70 70, Luke Jerling 72 69 71, Martin Rohwer 74 67 71, Keenan Davidse 72 69 71, Doug McGuigan 68 72 72, Tyrone Ryan 70 70 72, Jacques Blaauw 68 72 72
213 – Harry Ellis 69 71 73, Damon Stephenson 67 72 74, JJ Senekal 67 71 75, Wynand Dingle 67 70 76, Jacques P de Villiers 73 64 76, Scott Campbell 67 70 76
214 – Jason Viljoen 68 74 72, Jacquin Hess 71 70 73, Teboho Sefatsa 69 70 75, Dawie Van der Walt 71 67 76
215 – Trevor Fisher Jnr 69 71 75, Garth Mulroy 72 68 75, Estiaan Conradie 68 71 76, Kyle McClatchie 65 72 78
216 – Bennie van der Merwe 69 73 74, Rhys West 70 72 74, Rhys Enoch 67 73 76, Tyler Hogarty 67 72 77, Michael Hollick 68 71 77
217 – Andrew van der Knaap 71 71 75, Matias Calderon 67 75 75
218 – Mitch Waite 68 72 78
219 – Philip Geerts 70 72 77, Allister de Kock 70 72 77, Anton Haig 71 70 78, Jake Roos 71 70 78
220 – Ian Ansett 70 72 78, Pieter Moolman 70 71 79
