Ken Borland

Frontrunners Martin Kaymer and Louis Oosthuizen are in agreement that winning the Nedbank Golf Challenge will not be easy at the punishing Gary Player Country Club course on Sunday.

Kaymer and Oosthuizen played themselves into the final two-ball under cloudy skies in Saturday’s third round, but will be bringing slightly different mindsets to Sunday’s closing round.

Oosthuizen, who is on four-under-par and trails Kaymer by a shot, does not believe anyone is going to be able to run away with the tournament on the final day.

“I can’t see someone shooting 65 or 66. The course is playing really difficult and I won’t be surprised if seven-under wins it. You’ve just got to stay very patient and make sure you give yourself a shout with four or five holes to play,” Oosthuizen said.

“You need to hit as many greens as possible. You can’t just go for the pins, that would be silly. The best score in the tournament has been 69 and I cannot see someone shooting much lower than that,” the South African said.

Kaymer is in pole position going into the final round, but he said that does not mean he will lock away all his attacking ambitions.

“It will be a mistake to try and defend my lead. You need to hit fairways and greens and that will lead to a few chances. But if you don’t hit fairways, you’re not going to get any birdies.

“I’ve been very surprised how difficult the course is though, so I won’t be too aggressive. Even level-par is a good score in these conditions,” Kaymer said.

Kaymer displaced NGC defending champion Lee Westwood as the world number one in early 2011, but his form has waned this year, before returning just in time for Europe’s miraculous Ryder Cup victory, in which the German sank the putt that ensured they would retain the famous trophy.

“I played very well before the Ryder Cup and I was ready to go two or three weeks before the tournament. Winning it was a huge thing, the ultimate, because I’ll never be under more pressure.

“I haven’t had a win otherwise in 2012, but it’s still been a very good year because I’ve made progress with my swing. I’m hitting the ball very well and I’m happy with my game. Golf is a game of patience and I still have 20 years ahead of me. Or 30 if I’m like Bernhard,” Kaymer quipped in reference to his countryman Bernhard Langer, who won the Nedbank Champions Challenge for the senior golfers on Saturday.

Louis Oosthuizen once again ate something dodgy at the Sun City beach party but had recovered sufficiently by Saturday to position himself nicely just one stroke behind leader Martin Kaymer after the third round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge at the Gary Player Country Club.

Kaymer shot a solid two-under-par 70 on Saturday to move to five-under overall, but Oosthuizen closed in on the former world number one with a three-under 69, the joint best round of the day.

Fellow South African Charl Schwartzel is one stroke back after a 70, while two-time defending champion Lee Westwood and rising American star Bill Haas are tied for fourth on two-under-par.

When Oosthuizen made his NGC debut in 2010, he suffered a reaction to eating seafood at the famous beach party at the Valley of the Waves and finished last.

“Two years ago, the whole tournament felt like a blur, I just felt terrible,” Oosthuizen said.

Unbelievably, the South African once again picked up a stomach bug at this year’s beach party and did well to struggle his way to an even-par 72 in the second round.

“Yesterday I wasn’t feeling good at all. Today I still had a bit of cramps and pain in my stomach area, but at least I was able to eat a bit, to get something in me,” Oosthuisen said on Saturday after his round.

The 30-year-old from Mossel Bay produced a skilful display of golf on Saturday, thriving in the tough conditions as sunny skies gave way to cloud and occasional light rain.

“The weather was like on the coast, the wind was all over the place and the ball just didn’t go as far. The rain didn’t do much to make the greens easier either,” Oosthuizen said.

Kaymer, however, is in pole position after recovering from a bogey on the par-four third hole to collect three birdies and not drop another shot.

The German said it had taken him a while to lock down his distance control after a dramatic overnight change in weather.

“It was a bit more difficult than yesterday, especially the first few holes because usually the ball goes a bit further in the heat,” Kaymer said.

“Usually the ball goes 10% further, but it took a while to work out whether it was 10% less today or 5% less. And the wind was swirling around on a few holes too.”

Overnight leader Paul Lawrie’s challenge waned as he struggled to a 75 on Saturday to trail Kaymer by four shots, four bogeys in his first eight holes serving to derail his round.

Schwartzel played some inspired golf, dropping just one shot after a wayward drive on the testing par-four eighth hole as home fans contemplated a first South African triumph in the exhibition event since 2007.

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Bernhard Langer’s dominance under sunny skies was not quite as pronounced when it clouded over at the Gary Player Country Club on Saturday, but the German still claimed victory in the Nedbank Champions Challenge in  relatively easy fashion.

Langer led the seniors’ competition by four strokes overnight and, even though Jay Haas shot an even-par 72 to narrow the gap, the two-time Masters champion could afford to shoot a two-over-par 74 and still win by two shots.

Langer, who won the Nedbank Golf Challenge in 1985 and 1991, said the victory made up for last year’s runners-up finish to Mark Calcavecchia when he surrendered the lead in the final round.

“It’s very satisfying because of what happened last year. It still came down to the end because the wind was very tricky and I missed more greens, which makes bogeys inevitable. But Jay was also very solid today, he drove the ball terrifically and he was good with his wedges too. To be fair, he was a bit unlucky with a few putts,” the gracious Langer said.

The tournament became a two-horse race with Ian Woosnam only managing a 72 on Saturday to finish five strokes adrift, while defending champion Calcavecchia fared even worse, slumping to a 13-over-par 85.

Haas put some pressure on Langer with a flawless inward nine and Langer was in some difficulty on the 14^th hole, when he had just a two-stroke lead and he faced a tricky up-and-down for par.

“It was fantastic to get that up-and-down on 14 and then on 15 I was hitting out of the semi-rough, a very tricky second shot. It landed perfectly but then it took off downwind and finished right at the back of the green. I had a 40-45 foot putt with about three feet of break, but I hit it absolutely brilliantly, with the perfect speed, for a crucial birdie,” Langer said.

The birdie gave Langer a three-shot lead with just three holes to play and he could afford a bogey at the par-four 17^th after his approach shot slid off left into the water short of the green. But, after the drop, he hit a wonderful chip shot to within a few feet of the hole.

The 55-year-old then pushed his tee shot on the final hole into the semi-rough and decided to lay up rather than risk letting Haas back into the contest.

“I had a horrible lie, so I could just chip the ball out and I then made a great up-and-down with a seven-iron and a putt from about 10 feet,” Langer said.

Haas had begun the final round shakily with two bogeys in his first three holes, before a birdie at the par-five ninth kept him in touch, egging him on to a brave challenge on the back nine. But the putts just refused to drop for the American.

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The Nedbank Golf Challenge enters its third round at the Gary Player Country Club on Saturday and, thus far, the scoring has not set the world alight.

In fact, it is Bernhard Langer, the 55-year-old leader of the Champions Challenge who has been the most impressive golfer thus far. The German’s nine-under-par tally after two rounds has given him a four-shot lead over Jay Haas in the concurrent tournament for senior golfers, but Langer is five shots better off than the NGC leader, Scotsman Paul Lawrie.

The secret to Langer’s success has been clear-thinking, wise strategy and successful execution that has seen him generally avoid the brutal rough which often waits just a couple of metres off the fairway.

Lawrie has followed a similar, conservative strategy and has recorded just two bogeys, one on each day, in 36 holes thus far.

“Experience has a lot to do with it, probably nobody has played this course as much as me – it’s my 16^th tournament here. I played well, just hitting fairways and greens, but it’s important to hit the ball in the right spot here,” Langer said.

While Langer, Haas and defending seniors champion Mark Calcavecchia have all enjoyed sub-par rounds on both days, the NGC regular pros have generally struggled, with no one really conquering the Gary Player Country Club.

The result has been a bunched leaderboard with first round leaders Bill Haas, the son of Jay, and Nicolas Colsaerts slipping back down the field on Friday.

Haas admitted he was surprised that it was the seniors who were playing the better golf on the same course at the same time, their only allowance being that their tees have been moved forward.

“I’m surprised the big names are not doing better. We’re probably driving the ball where they’re driving it, then they probably take one club less from there. But the thing about Bernhard is that he does not make many mental errors, he doesn’t give strokes away.

“Having forward tees is definitely an advantage on a couple of holes and nobody in our tournament gets close to the distance of those 12 golfers in the main event. But the situation is a little unusual right now,” Haas said.

But Langer, typically, is not allowing himself to get carried away, even though the Champions Challenge enters its final round on Saturday.

“Four strokes sounds like a lot, but there is still a lot of golf to be played and this course can grab you anywhere, every hole can get you, so I still have to play a solid final round of golf. If I keep swinging and rolling the ball the way I did today, then I should be okay,” Langer said.

The two-time Masters champion has certainly given a masterclass at Sun City, one that the regular pros have not been able to match. While Langer has shot 68-67, the best rounds in the NGC have been Friday’s 69s shot by Lawrie and Martin Kaymer.