DAVID DRYSDALE MOVES INTO FOURTH PLACE IN JOBURG OPEN
FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Defending champion Charl Schwartzel and his South African compatriots Thomas Aiken and Garth Mulroy share the lead going into the final round of a wide-open Joburg Open.
The South African trio all had similar efforts on day three, with Schwartzel and Mulroy - both part of a three-way tie for the lead at the halfway stage - going around the par 71 East Course of the Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club in two under 69s.
Aiken, who was a shot behind at the start of the day, managed the best round of the trio, a 68, as the leaders ended on 15 under overall.
Their closest challenge was coming from Scotland's David Drysdale after his four under 67 put him a shot further back, while English pair Ben Evans (67) and Jamie Elson (71) were tied on 13 under - the latter amongst the top trio after two rounds.
Jean-Baptiste Gonnet from France was tied with them to sit two shots of the leaders, with Welshman Jamie Donaldson recording the round of the day score of 65 to move onto 11 under.
Four other players were with him - Swede Oscar Floren (66), Antti Ahokas (68) of Finland and South African duo Allan Versfeld (70) and Branden Grace (71).
The big battle, though, looks set to take place at the top of the leaderboard as the co-sanctioned European and Sunshine Tour event reaches its climax.
Aiken, who led for most of the day after carding four birdies and a bogey on the par three 16th, believes someone outside the leading trio could produce a sting in the tail.
"Golf's a funny game, you can get someone shooting a 62 to come from behind, so you never know," he said.
"You need to concentrate on what you need to do, go out there and whatever happens out there happens."
Trying to explain why low scoring was hard to come by today, the 27 year old, a seven-time winner on the Sunshine Tour, added: "There were two difficult things out there today. One was the wind and the other thing was the pin placements, which were in some really nasty positions.
"I did what I needed to do, didn't do anything ridiculously bad, but it just didn't want to go in the hole. Hopefully tomorrow it will go the other way."
Schwartzel missed several putts along the way as he ended with his worst score of the week so far - he shot 68 and 61 previously.
The 26 year old also felt that the wind had been in a factor in keeping scoring in check.
"It was a tough day out there today," he said. "The wind blew a lot and this course is not in one direction, it's in different ones, so it makes things difficult.
"It always swirls and makes it difficult to choose clubs."
The World Number 32, who is the highest ranked player in the field, also lamented his putting, adding: "I know I hit the ball well, but I left a few putts out there.
"I missed a few short ones, which weren't really bad ones, but just misread.
"Then I three-putted 15 and all of a sudden I knew I'm now on the back foot when I could have had quite a bit of momentum going my way.
"But no one really got away and I'm right in it for tomorrow."
After the overnight leaders all dropped early shots - Elson starting with a double bogey 6 - Aiken got his nose in front with an easy two-putt birdie on the sixth.
Schwartzel responded with a hat-trick of gains approaching the turn, starting with an approach to six feet on the seventh.
Aiken hit a great third at the par-5 eighth after finding sand off the tee to set up a two foot birdie and retain his lead, and fired in a 15 footer at the tenth.
Mulroy refused to allow the tournament to develop into a two-horse race and fired his tee shot to six feet on the par three 12th, before holing from 20 feet at the next.
Drysdale, who has played on the Sunshine Tour, scored better in the third round than any of the trio ahead of him.
His four-under-par 67 was made up on halves of 35 and 32. He has yet to bogey a hole after the sixth (in his second round he did not have a single bogey over the 18 holes).
The Scot started badly in the third round with bogeys at the first and fourth but he put that right with birdies at the short fifth, long eighth and ninth. From the turn he had six pars and birdies at the 13th, 17th and 18th.
SCOTSWATCH: Apart from Drysdale, Lloyd Saltman was the Scot with the most reasons to be cheerful at the end of the third day. He shot a 69 fpr 206 to be sharing 22nd place with Marc Warren who slipped back to a 73 after opening rounds of 67 and 66 had held out promise of a title challenge over the last two rounds. Scott Jamieson is on 208 - joint 38th place - after a one-over-par 72. Steven O'Hara's hopes of following up last weekend's heroics died a death when he shot a 75 to drop to joint 67th place.
LEADERBOARD
Par 213 (3x71)
198 Thomas Aiken (S Africa) 64 66 68, Garth Mulroy (S Africa) 65 64 69, Charl Schwartzel (S Africa) 68 61 69.
199 David Drysdale (Scotland) 67 65 67.
200 Ben Evans (England) 66 67 67, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (France) 67 66 67, Jamie Elson (England) 65 64 71.
OTHER SCOTS' SCORES
206 Lloyd Saltman 71 66 69, Marc Warren 67 66 73 (jt 22nd).
208 Scott Jamieson 70 66 72 (jt 38th).
212 Steven O'Hara 70 67 75 (jt 67th).
TO READ ALL THE SCORES AND CHECK THE INDIVIDUAL
SCORECARDS ON THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE,
CLICK HERE
Defending champion Charl Schwartzel and his South African compatriots Thomas Aiken and Garth Mulroy share the lead going into the final round of a wide-open Joburg Open.
The South African trio all had similar efforts on day three, with Schwartzel and Mulroy - both part of a three-way tie for the lead at the halfway stage - going around the par 71 East Course of the Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club in two under 69s.
Aiken, who was a shot behind at the start of the day, managed the best round of the trio, a 68, as the leaders ended on 15 under overall.
Their closest challenge was coming from Scotland's David Drysdale after his four under 67 put him a shot further back, while English pair Ben Evans (67) and Jamie Elson (71) were tied on 13 under - the latter amongst the top trio after two rounds.
Jean-Baptiste Gonnet from France was tied with them to sit two shots of the leaders, with Welshman Jamie Donaldson recording the round of the day score of 65 to move onto 11 under.
Four other players were with him - Swede Oscar Floren (66), Antti Ahokas (68) of Finland and South African duo Allan Versfeld (70) and Branden Grace (71).
The big battle, though, looks set to take place at the top of the leaderboard as the co-sanctioned European and Sunshine Tour event reaches its climax.
Aiken, who led for most of the day after carding four birdies and a bogey on the par three 16th, believes someone outside the leading trio could produce a sting in the tail.
"Golf's a funny game, you can get someone shooting a 62 to come from behind, so you never know," he said.
"You need to concentrate on what you need to do, go out there and whatever happens out there happens."
Trying to explain why low scoring was hard to come by today, the 27 year old, a seven-time winner on the Sunshine Tour, added: "There were two difficult things out there today. One was the wind and the other thing was the pin placements, which were in some really nasty positions.
"I did what I needed to do, didn't do anything ridiculously bad, but it just didn't want to go in the hole. Hopefully tomorrow it will go the other way."
Schwartzel missed several putts along the way as he ended with his worst score of the week so far - he shot 68 and 61 previously.
The 26 year old also felt that the wind had been in a factor in keeping scoring in check.
"It was a tough day out there today," he said. "The wind blew a lot and this course is not in one direction, it's in different ones, so it makes things difficult.
"It always swirls and makes it difficult to choose clubs."
The World Number 32, who is the highest ranked player in the field, also lamented his putting, adding: "I know I hit the ball well, but I left a few putts out there.
"I missed a few short ones, which weren't really bad ones, but just misread.
"Then I three-putted 15 and all of a sudden I knew I'm now on the back foot when I could have had quite a bit of momentum going my way.
"But no one really got away and I'm right in it for tomorrow."
After the overnight leaders all dropped early shots - Elson starting with a double bogey 6 - Aiken got his nose in front with an easy two-putt birdie on the sixth.
Schwartzel responded with a hat-trick of gains approaching the turn, starting with an approach to six feet on the seventh.
Aiken hit a great third at the par-5 eighth after finding sand off the tee to set up a two foot birdie and retain his lead, and fired in a 15 footer at the tenth.
Mulroy refused to allow the tournament to develop into a two-horse race and fired his tee shot to six feet on the par three 12th, before holing from 20 feet at the next.
Drysdale, who has played on the Sunshine Tour, scored better in the third round than any of the trio ahead of him.
His four-under-par 67 was made up on halves of 35 and 32. He has yet to bogey a hole after the sixth (in his second round he did not have a single bogey over the 18 holes).
The Scot started badly in the third round with bogeys at the first and fourth but he put that right with birdies at the short fifth, long eighth and ninth. From the turn he had six pars and birdies at the 13th, 17th and 18th.
SCOTSWATCH: Apart from Drysdale, Lloyd Saltman was the Scot with the most reasons to be cheerful at the end of the third day. He shot a 69 fpr 206 to be sharing 22nd place with Marc Warren who slipped back to a 73 after opening rounds of 67 and 66 had held out promise of a title challenge over the last two rounds. Scott Jamieson is on 208 - joint 38th place - after a one-over-par 72. Steven O'Hara's hopes of following up last weekend's heroics died a death when he shot a 75 to drop to joint 67th place.
LEADERBOARD
Par 213 (3x71)
198 Thomas Aiken (S Africa) 64 66 68, Garth Mulroy (S Africa) 65 64 69, Charl Schwartzel (S Africa) 68 61 69.
199 David Drysdale (Scotland) 67 65 67.
200 Ben Evans (England) 66 67 67, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (France) 67 66 67, Jamie Elson (England) 65 64 71.
OTHER SCOTS' SCORES
206 Lloyd Saltman 71 66 69, Marc Warren 67 66 73 (jt 22nd).
208 Scott Jamieson 70 66 72 (jt 38th).
212 Steven O'Hara 70 67 75 (jt 67th).
TO READ ALL THE SCORES AND CHECK THE INDIVIDUAL
SCORECARDS ON THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE,
CLICK HERE
Labels: EUROPEAN TOUR
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Saturday, January 15, 2011
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