Erik van Rooyen will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Hainan Open after carding a 67 during day three in China.
The South African has been in imperious form all week, and after scores of 67 and 65 van Rooyen claimed the 36-hole lead in Sanya.
The 27-year-old continued his impressive scoring today by bagging five birdies and holing out for an eagle from 90 yards at the par four 12th.
Despite temporarily losing his composure on the par four 15th – where an errant drive led to a double-bogey – van Rooyen signed for his third sub-70 score of the tournament and a 17 under par total.
His nearest challenger is Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen who is two shots back. Van Rooyen held a one-shot lead over Pulkkanen going into the final round of last month’s Kazakhstan Open – which Pulkkanen went on to win in a play-off.
The pair will lock horns once again tomorrow and van Rooyen is excited for their rematch.
‘I am looking forward to tomorrow and it should be a great battle,’ he said. ‘Tapio is a very fun guy to play with. Congratulations to him for winning Kazakhstan – he is a very high calibre player and it was a great victory for him.
‘I made some really nice putts today – I made a really good birdie at 11 then went on a great run. I eagled 12 and then made another birdie at 13 too, and I guess when you are playing well things fall into place for you.
‘The wind started picking up when I got to the 15th and I was hitting into it so I thought that I should take a driver. In hindsight I should have taken a three wood off of the tee but that was the only bad swing I made today.
‘The game plan that I have had has worked pretty well so far. I am going to have to look at the weather forecast for tomorrow and that might change a few things depending on whether it is wet and windy.
‘I am hitting tons of fairways and am also putting really well so if I continue to do that I should be good tomorrow.’
Credit: Challenge Tour
