Course record lowered again in South African Open

PHONE CALL TO LEADBETTER
PUTS IMMELMAN BACK ON
TRACK FOR 3-SHOT LEAD

It was always likely that there would be a home winner of the South African Airways Open but the popular choice would have been Retief Goosen or Ernie Els.
Well, a Springbok has taken a three-stroke, potentially winning lead with one round to go at the Humewood Golf Club, Port Elizabeth, but it's not Goosen or Else ... it's Trevor Immelman - and on his 27th birthday to boot!
Immelman, pictured right, Rookie of the Year on the US PGA Tour, shot course-record, nine-under-par 63 in the third round to move to 20-under-par 196.
Els, 66 for 199, is his nearest rival with halfway leader, Patrick Sjoland from Sweden, whose second-r0und 64 lasted 24 hours as the course record, holding down third palce with a 69 for 201.
Englishman Andrew Raitt (68), who once played in the Scottish professional championship, which suggests he has some Scottish blood in his ancestry, and Goosen (68) are joint fourth on 203.
Immelman, a winner in America this season, crammed nine birdies into his bogey-free 63.
The leader revealed that he phoned coach David Leadbetter in Florida after striking the ball in the second round "not too good."
"He gave me some advice and the result was that today I kept my drives in play and the irons on the right side of the flags. That made all the difference," said Immelman.
THIRD-ROUND TOTALS
Par 216 (3 x 72)
(Players from South Africa unless stated).
196 Trevor Immelman 67 66 63.
199 Ernie Els 67 66 66.
201 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 68 64 69.
203 Retief Goosen 69 66 68, Andrew Raitt (Eng) 67 68 68.
204 Lee Westwood (Eng) 68 68 68, Darren Fichardt 72 67 65.
205 Ross Fisher (Eng) 70 69 66, Charl Schwartzel 71 69 65, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 70 69 66.
206 Louis Oosthuizen 71 65 70, James Kamte 69 68 69.
207 Robert Rock (Eng) 70 68 69, Lee S James (Eng) 71 69 67, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 71 68 68, Rafael Bello (Spa) 72 69 66, Edward Rush (Eng) 70 67 70.
208 Alan McLean (Sco) 69 68 71, Carl Suneson (Spa) 67 76 65, Jaco Van Zyl 71 65 72, Richard Sterne 73 69 66.
209 Steve Basson 71 69 69, Nic Henning 71 68 70, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 75 65 69, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 69 67 73, Bradford Vaughan 70 68 71, David Frost 72 69 68, Oliver Fisher (Eng) 77 67 65, Gary Lockerbie (Eng) 73 66 70, Keith Horne 73 68 68, Desmond Terblanche 68 70 71.
210 Benn Barham (Eng) 71 71 68, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 69 68 73, Scott Drummond (Sco) 73 67 70, Lee Slattery (Eng) 71 70 69, Ross Wellington 76 67 67, Nico Van Rensburg 70 70 70, Warren Bennett (Eng) 73 69 68, Michael Lamb (Zim) 76 68 66.
211 Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 74 70 67, Andrew Tampion (Aus) 72 67 72, Ulrich Van Den Berg 72 70 69, Hennie Otto 70 73 68, Tongoona Charamba (Zim) 75 69 67, Branden Grace 73 71 67, Justin Walters 73 67 71.
212 David Carter (Eng) 74 69 69, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 72 70 70, Nigel Edwards (Wal) 73 68 71, Andrew McLardy 71 71 70, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 75 66 71, Chris Williams (Eng) 72 70 70, Richard Finch (Eng) 71 71 70, Phillip Archer (Eng) 75 68 69, Sam Little (Eng) 73 71 68.
Gregory Havret (Fra) 73 68 71
213 Titch Moore 71 69 73, Desvonde Botes 73 68 72, Ian Hutchings 73 70 70, Juan Parron (Spa) 71 72 70, Gareth Davies (Eng) 69 75 69, Chris Swanepoel 73 70 70, Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice) 74 69 70, Sam Walker 72 69 72, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 71 69 73, Mark Murless (Rsa) 72 71 70, Steve Van Vuuren 71 65 77, Sean Farrell (Zim) 75 69 69.
214 Anton Haig 75 68 71, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 75 69 70, James Heath (Eng) 70 70 74, Divan Van Den Heever 71 73 70, Oliver Wilson (Eng) 74 69 71, Johan Axgren (Swe) 72 70 72.
Other scores:
218 Tony Johnstone (Zim) 72 72 74.
219 Garry Houston (Wal) 71 72 76.
220 Matthew Richardson (Eng) 74 68 78.