Vincent boxes eagle putt to climb mountain & catch Mack 0
CENTURION – Kieran Vincent boxed a putt for eagle after driving the green on the par-four 15th hole and then birdied two of the last three holes to grab a share of the lead after the third round of the KitKat Cash & Carry Pro-Am at Irene Country Club on Saturday.
Vincent’s brilliant finish saw him come home in six-under-par 30 on the back nine, lifting him to a 67 in the penultimate round, and 15-under-par overall, tied for the lead with James Mack, who could only shoot level-par 72 on Saturday.
Vincent was in a tie for third going into the weekend, fully five strokes behind Mack, and a double-bogey at the par-four third hole and a bogey at the par-three seventh saw the Zimbabwean reach the turn on one-over-par and seemingly left with a mountain to climb to catch Mack.
But the 26-year-old Vincent birdied the par-four 11th and 14th holes, before his stunning drive on the 308m 15th set up the eagle that catapulted him up the leaderboard.
Dropped shots on the 12th, 14th and 16th holes were the pivot for Mack being caught by Vincent, but the 25-year-old England-based South African still managed to shoot level-par in the end thanks to a birdie-birdie finish, having earlier picked up shots on the 11th and 15th holes.
KZN’s Martin Rohwer was in second place after the first two rounds, but he slipped back into a tie for third on Saturday after a one-over-par round of 73 left him on 12-under, alongside Englishman Joe Long (67) and Portugal’s Stephen Ferreira (69).
Another KZN golfer, Malcolm Mitchell, surged up the leaderboard on Saturday with a seven-under 65 lifting him to 11-under-par, sharing sixth place with fellow South Africans Stefan Wears-Taylor (68), Jacques Blaauw (69) and Rupert Kaminski (71).