Richie Ramsay five behind pacemaking Pablo

with a round to go in South African Open

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Spaniard Pablo Martin endured mixed fortunes in the third round of the South African Open Championships at Pearl Valley Golf Estates, Western Cape today, but ended it where he started - on course for a second successive victory.
The 23 year old somehow scrambled his way to a level par 72 and with a closing birdie returned to 11 under par 205 and a one stroke lead over Italian Edoardo Molinari.
Martin's ball hit a spectator on the head when his approach shot flew over the green at the seventh, but the former British boys' open champion holed a 20ft par-saving effort.
Then, after bogeying the next two holes and falling into a tie with compatriot Alejandro Cañizares, Pablo made an outrageous birdie at the short 12th when his tee shot, heading for the water, hit a rock and came out.
Winner of the Alfred Dunhill Championship last Sunday, Martin could not escape from a wild drive down the 14th and double bogeyed, but he battled on and got his reward with a chip-and-putt birdie 4 on the 601yd last hole.
“The ball was going to some house on seven, and he (the spectator) kept me in play,” said Martin. “I got up and down from there. I gave him the ball and told him we could have a few beers later.”
Having battled to keep his game on track, Martin even decided to use his driver off the fairway on the 18th in an attempt to reverse his fortunes.
“I couldn’t get the green with a three wood, so I thought, ‘What the heck. Maybe it hits a tree and goes in the hole.’ Nothing bad can happen to me today,” he laughed.
“I can’t believe that either,” said the Spaniard from Malaga of the fact that he leads going into the final round.
While Pablo looks to make it two wins out of two - and this only a month after nearly losing his European Tour card - Molinari is seeking an amazing fifth victory in his last eight starts.
The 28 year old, round in a three under 69 despite having a double bogey himself on the seventh, needs only a top nine finish to move into the world's top 50 for the first time.
It would enable him to join his brother Francesco - they won the Omega Mission Hills World Cup together last month - in the Masters Tournament at Augusta next April, but the title would also take him fourth on Europe's Ryder Cup table.
That would be a stunning achievement for a player who played most of the year on the Challenge Tour, but since topping their money list he has won in Japan and China.
“I’ve played really well the last couple of months, and last week as well,” said Molinari.
“Finally this week, I started making a couple of putts, so I’m in a good position going into Sunday.”
Joint third are Denmark's Anders Hansen, Swede Fredrik Andersson Hed and South African James Kingston, winner two years ago.
Cañizares, son of former Ryder Cup player Jose Maria, took seven on the 13th as he fell to joint ninth five behind.
Alongside him are Aberdeen's Richie Ramsay, back in form with a third-round 68 for six-under 210, Northern Ireland's Michael Hoey and Louis Oosthuizen, who got the home fans cheering when he moved into third place, but then had an air shot over a tap-in bogey putt at the seventh.
His club caught the ground rather than the ball and he immediately told playing partner Cañizares he had taken a stroke.
American Hale Irwin did the same thing in the third round of the 1983 Open Championship at Birkdale and lost to Tom Watson by one stroke the following day.
Callum Macaulay, after a hole in one on Friday, lost ground with a 73 for 212.

THIRD ROUND TOTALS
Par 216 (3x72)
205 Pablo Martin (Spa) 65 68 72
206 Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 68 69 69
207 Anders Hansen (Den) 66 69 72, James Kingston (Rsa) 72 66 69, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 71 68 68
208 Shiv Kapur (Ind) 71 68 69
209 Michiel Bothma (Rsa) 68 73 68, Chris Swanepoel (Rsa) 72 69 68
210 Richie Ramsay 67 75 68, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 69 67 74, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 68 69 73, Michael Hoey 70 70 70
211 Richard Bland 73 72 66, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 69 71 71, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 72 69 70
212 Damien McGrane 69 72 71, Scott Dunlap (USA) 72 70 70, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 69 69 74, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 72 70, Dawie Van der Walt (Rsa) 65 73 74, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 73 71 68, Simon Khan 73 71 68, Callum Macaulay 70 69 73, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 72 71 69, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 68 75 69
213 Brandon Pieters (Rsa) 74 69 70, Jacques Blaauw (Rsa) 69 75 69, Richard McEvoy 71 69 73, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 76 69 68, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 73 72 68, Sam Hutsby 71 73 69, David Drysdale 75 70 68, Peter Karmis (Rsa) 70 73 70, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 74 70
214 Grant Muller (Rsa) 72 72 70, Andrew Coltart 74 67 73, Andre Cruse (Rsa) 72 71 71, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 70 71 73, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 71 69 74, David Hewan (Rsa) 77 68 69
215 Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe) 71 73 71, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 77 68 70, Joost Luiten (Ned) 73 69 73, Gareth Maybin 75 68 72, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 76 67 72, Rhys Davies 73 70 72, George Coetzee (Rsa) 74 67 74, John Bickerton 73 70 72, Dion Fourie (Rsa) 71 72 72, Carl Suneson (Spa) 71 70 74, Gary Murphy 75 69 71, Louis Moolman (Rsa) 70 74 71, Richard Finch 68 71 76, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 69 74 72
216 Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 69 73 74, Steve Basson (Rsa) 73 70 73, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 64 74 78, Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 72 72 72, Branden Grace (Rsa) 72 70 74, Kenneth Ferrie 71 70 75, Robert Rock 71 74 71, Keith Horne (Rsa) 71 72 73
217 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 74 70 73, Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 72 72 73, Paul Waring 73 72 72, Markus Brier (Aut) 71 74 72, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 74 70 73, Doug McGuigan 70 75 72
218 J G Claassen (Rsa) 74 69 75, T C Charamba (Zim) 73 72 73, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 79 65 74
219 Thabang Simon (Rsa) 75 70 74, James Morrison 72 73 74
220 Peter Whiteford 73 72 75, Lindani Ndwandwe (Rsa) 72 73 75
221 Alan McLean 69 73 79, Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa) 71 71 79, James Kamte (Rsa) 70 74 77, Ryan Dreyer (Rsa) 73 72 76
223 Marco Ruiz (Par) 74 70 79