Swede Philip Eriksson shrugged off two consecutive bogeys on Saturday on his way to a six-under-par 67 on The Links at Fancourt as he finished the third round of the Dimension Data Pro-Am in a share of the lead.
He made bogey on 14 and 15 in a round which had reached eight-under par through 12 on the challenging layout. He shares the 54-hole lead with Jaco van Zyl after the players had played a round on each of the three Fancourt courses – The Links, Montagu and Outeniqua. The final round will be played at Montagu.
‘Six-under is always a really good score, but I was eight-under through 13, so I was not really that happy with the finishing holes,’ said Eriksson. ‘But you take what you get.’
And what he got was a solid addition to his opening rounds of 66 on Montagu and 67 on Outeniqua, despite the disappointment of the finish. ‘With the two bogeys, I just missed one tee shot,’ he said. ‘It went just off the fairway into a bunker and it plugged in the lip there. I couldn’t really do much. I missed a short putt for par after I hit a good wedge shot there. Then I three-putted the next hole after a good wedge shot which was just too long really. Then I missed two birdie putts coming down the stretch.
‘It’s tough when you’re eight-under to keep pushing to go 10 or 12-under. I wouldn’t really say I tried to push myself too hard. I hit some really good shots down the stretch. There were two iron shots I wasn’t really happy with, but other than that I hit pretty much everything pretty solid today. I barely missed a shot today.
‘I’m happy with all parts of my game, really. I’m putting solidly – I hit it on the right line and everything. I didn’t make that many long putts, but there were a couple of good ones from two or three metres. My driver is actually very long this week, and that’s pretty sweet. I wasn’t planning to go for the par-fives this week, but I’ve been hitting it so far, and on the fairways I kind of had to go for them.
‘I don’t know what the difference is with the driver. The practice round was just terrible – I was hitting the driver everywhere. But I suppose it was raining and a bit colder then, so maybe it was just the good weather that helped me.’
Van Zyl, who has rounds of 65-66-69, with his 69 coming on Montagu, is holding it together in a week marking a return to form after a difficult return from a long period off for injury. ‘My scores are trending in the wrong direction,’ he said, laughing. ‘But I’m playing nicely. It was a little scruffy towards the end today, but Montagu is really a good challenge. I gave myself chances, but no real close opportunities.’
Van Zyl and Eriksson have a two-stroke edge over Jbe’ Kruger, with Riekus Nortje and Dean Burmester lurking dangerously just one shot further back.
All of the top five, except Eriksson, played the third round on Montagu, so they have a little momentum on that course going into the final round.
But that’s not bothering the Swede. ‘Montagu is a really good course,’ he said. ‘I like all three of them, but Montagu is a really strategic one. You don’t need to hit driver that much. I didn’t hit it that much in my first round, so I’m probably just going to stick with the same game plan and make the same number of birdies I’ve been making. If I play the way I’ve been playing, I won’t shoot over par.
‘But it’s the final round and you’ve got to keep your mind right and just close the deal.’
Third round leaderboard:
200 – Philip Eriksson 66 67 67, Jaco Van Zyl 65 66 69
202 – Jbe’ Kruger 66 68 68
203 – Riekus Nortje 63 72 68, Dean Burmester 68 67 68
204 – Justin Walters 64 69 71
205 – Jeff Winther 70 69 66
206 – Steve Surry 67 68 71, Jaco Prinsloo 71 67 68, Jaco Ahlers 68 67 71
207 – Neil O’Briain 67 72 68, Laurie Canter 68 71 68
208 – Ockie Strydom 69 70 69, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 68 70 70, Vaughn Groenewald 70 69 69
209 – Jonathan Agren 73 67 69, Bradley Neil 73 68 68, Jacques P de Villiers 69 69 71, Bryce Easton 70 73 66, Keith Horne 73 66 70, Fredrik From 69 67 73, Merrick Bremner 70 74 65, Daniel van Tonder 73 71 65, Jacques Blaauw 73 65 71
210 – Antoine Rozner 70 71 69, Herman Loubser 75 68 67, Jack Harrison 69 70 71, Martin Rohwer 70 67 73, Daniel Greene 70 71 69, Lyle Rowe 73 67 70, Darren Fichardt 70 74 66, Rhys West 73 70 67
211 – Christiaan Basson 70 73 68, Cormac Sharvin 69 70 72, MJ Viljoen 70 71 70, JC Ritchie 72 69 70, Wallie Coetsee 73 68 70, Anthony Michael 67 71 73, Dawie Van der Walt 70 69 72, Stephen Ferreira 71 69 71, Toby Tree 66 70 75, Garth Mulroy 72 71 68
212 – Tyrone Ferreira 70 74 68, Chris Hanson 73 65 74, Ruan de Smidt 68 73 71, Ross McGowan 71 69 72, Estiaan Conradie 70 67 75, Hennie Otto 70 72 70
213 – Ulrich van den Berg 72 71 70, Jerome Lando Casanova 74 69 70, Jean Hugo 71 68 74, Jean-Paul Strydom 69 73 71, Thriston Lawrence 73 71 69, Rhys Enoch 71 69 73, Michael Palmer 68 73 72, Richard Bland 70 70 73, CJ du Plessis 75 68 70
214 – Peter Karmis 78 68 68, Breyten Meyer 73 72 69, Ruan Conradie 75 68 71, Mark Williams 69 72 73, Victor Lange 74 73 67, Luke Jerling 72 70 72, Derick Petersen 72 72 70, Philip Geerts 72 73 69, Anton Haig 74 70 70, Matthew Jordan 71 70 73, Zander Lombard 71 73 70, Hennie du Plessis 74 72 68
Missed the cut:-
215 – Ugo Coussaud 71 73 71, Ben Mannix 75 68 72, Ryan Cairns 70 74 71, Jason Viljoen 72 73 70, Heinrich Bruiners 71 73 71, MJ Daffue 72 70 73
216 – Matias Calderon 73 74 69, Scott Campbell 74 71 71, Lindani Ndwandwe 75 68 73, Jared Harvey 72 68 76, Kyle McClatchie 72 71 73
217 – Francesco Laporta 76 71 70, Jake Redman 71 73 73, Aubrey Beckley 73 70 74, Madalitso Muthiya 74 71 72, Mitch Waite 80 70 67, Gian-Marco Petrozzi 73 72 72, Dylan Kok 72 73 72, Callum Mowat 70 73 74, Jacquin Hess 73 73 71, Neil Schietekat 68 75 74, Michael Hollick 71 72 74, George Coetzee 71 71 75, Keenan Davidse 75 72 70, Erhard Lambrechts 72 72 73, Julien Brun 67 77 73
218 – Kyle Pilgrim 72 72 74, Luke Joy 71 75 72, Alan McLean 75 71 72, Jake Roos 73 70 75
219 – Robin Dawson 73 72 74, Trevor Fisher Jnr 75 74 70, Louis Albertse 76 72 71, Andre Nel 77 69 73, Andrew van der Knaap 75 72 72, Ian Snyman 78 75 66, Titch Moore 79 73 67
220 – Bennie van der Merwe 73 75 72, Doug McGuigan 74 76 70, Tyler Hogarty 79 68 73, Duane Keun 73 71 76, David McIntyre 73 75 72, Harry Ellis 74 72 74
221 – Andrew Georgiou 78 69 74, Chris Swanepoel 81 71 69, Marthin Scheepers 77 70 74
222 – Pieter Moolman 73 75 74, Andrew Curlewis 75 75 72, Francois Coetzee 73 77 72, Ian Ansett 76 75 71, Teaghan Gauche 79 68 75, Tyrone Ryan 73 71 78
223 – Rourke van der Spuy 74 78 71, JJ Senekal 81 69 73, Martin Rominger 76 75 72
224 – Andre De Decker 76 73 75, Franklin Manchest 78 74 72, Luke Trocado 78 74 72, Damon Stephenson 78 71 75, Sean Bradley 71 74 79, Andrew Odoh 79 73 72, Matthew Carvell 75 75 74, Wynand Dingle 73 76 75
225 – Coert Groenewald 73 78 74, Allan Versfeld 76 75 74, Keagan Beyer 81 72 72, Jade Buitendag 76 73 76, Theunis Bezuidenhout 78 72 75
226 – Toto Thimba 78 70 78, Benjamin Follett-Smith 71 75 80, Colin Nel 78 74 74, Michiel Bothma 76 71 79
227 – James Adams 78 77 72, Chris Cannon 71 76 80, James Pennington 74 74 79, Irvin Mazibuko 74 76 77, Ryan Tipping 83 72 72, Gerrit Foster 80 72 75
228 – Allister de Kock 78 77 73, Phumlani Maluka 76 76 76
229 – Teboho Sefatsa 79 75 75, Basil Wright 79 76 74, Clancy Waugh 80 79 70
230 – Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 76 79 75
231 – Yubin Jung 78 78 75, Fezekile Kana 84 74 73, James Kamte 77 72 82
235 – Thabang Simon 79 78 78, Michael Schutz 76 77 82
236 – Bryce Myburgh 77 77 82, Robert Wiederkehr 81 73 82
243 – Matthew Rushton 82 80 81
RTD – Don Gammon 77 RTD 72
Photo: Shaun Roy/Sunshine Tour/Gallo Images
