Ken Borland

On the sort of day when those unaccustomed to Lowveld heat could have ended up needing medical attention, South Africa’s Ockie Strydom stormed up the leaderboard in the third round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship, his 63 giving him a share of the lead as Scotsman Scott Jamieson stubbornly refused to let first place go.

Strydom ended the second round tied for 21st place on six-under, seven strokes behind Jamieson, but he produced an amazing round, eight birdies and an eagle taking him to 10-under through 15 holes.

He bogeyed the par-three 16th though, three-putting from the far reaches of the green, and then parred his way home to equal the course record set the previous day by Jamieson.

With 15-under now the target, Jamieson got to that mark with three successive birdies from the 11th hole and then ensured he made no mistakes and did not drop any shots coming in.

“I played the same golf as the first two days,” Strydom said as he improved greatly on scores of 68 and 70. “I made a few putts though, I holed a chip, hit my wedges closer and did not take any risks.

“The eagle on two, when I chipped in, was my shot of the day because I was in an impossible spot, short and right of the green, with a steep bunker to clear.

“There were quite tough flags and subtle breaks in the greens, which I saw were running at 13.7 at the start of my round. If they make them any quicker they’re going to kill us, but I managed to hit the ball in the right places.

“I made the right decisions out there and you can’t attack this course, you have to let it come to you, otherwise you’ll be done,” Strydom said.

Jamieson was happy with his performance, as firmer greens made for a tougher day for the 39-year-old. And that’s not mentioning the 35° heat.

“It was a solid day, I’ll take two-under especially after my front nine. As expected it was tougher today, the green speeds were right up. I hit poor shots on four and five that killed my momentum, but to be one-over at the turn was not a disaster,” Jamieson said.

“I knew there would be chances on the back nine and I was able to take three of them in a row. I was really disciplined, there were only two shots I was really not happy about, on four and five. I stuck to my game-plan and eventually got reward. I was proud of myself,” Jamieson said.

Both Strydom and Jamieson believe they have the equipment, both mentally and in terms of ball-striking, to get the job done in Sunday’s final round and claim the biggest victories of their career.

“I will do the same I’ve been doing every day, just play the golf and if it works out then it does, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t,” the phlegmatic Strydom said.

“We are all the same out there, we are all people, no different to each other. They are just names and we will have to see how good they do it in the final round.

“I’ve been there contending quite a few times and I will just keep doing what I’m doing,” Strydom, who has one Sunshine Tour win and 19 runners-up finishes, said.

“The tournament begins on the back nine tomorrow,” Jamieson said. “So far we’ve all just been jockeying for position, but tomorrow the game-plan could change.

“Tomorrow will be all about who plays the best golf and there are some good names up there on the leaderboard. So it’s going to take a good round to win, if I can get to 20-under I will be happy and hopefully that will be good enough. But you can’t control what others do,” Jamieson added.

One of those prime ‘others’ is Dean Burmester (68), who is tied for third alongside fellow South African Oliver Bekker (68) and in-form Englishman Dale Whitnell (66) on 13-under, two behind.

“I’m happy where I’m at. Leading is harder than chasing and Scott Jamieson won once years ago [2013] and Ockie has won once too. We will just have to wait and see what they do in the final round,” Burmester, who won his second DP World Tour title last year in Tenerife and has eight other Sunshine Tour wins, said.

Having grown up in the humid, subtropical climate of Mutare in eastern Zimbabwe, and with the confidence he has gained playing in America, Burmester is unlikely to wilt in the heat.

As much as Scott Jamieson delights in playing at Leopard Creek, so much did his golf entrance those watching as he fired a course-record 63 on Friday to claim a three-shot lead after the second round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

The 39-year-old Scottish golfer, who was on four-under after the first round, three behind leader Dean Burmester, came charging up the leaderboard on the front nine, which was definitely playing tougher than the back nine.

Jamieson birdied the par-five second hole, but the real fireworks began when he started a run of four successive birdies from the par-three fifth hole.

Turning in 30 shots, Jamieson then produced a hat-trick of birdies from the 12th, again a par-three. That gave him the outright lead and a birdie on the 17th was just icing on the cake.

“This is my favourite week of the year, I just love this place and I did not know about the course record but it’s a special place to hold it,” Jamieson said after reaching the halfway mark of the tournament on 13-under-par.

“It was just one of those days when almost everything clicked, even though we are perfectionists so it always feels like we leave one or two shots out there.

“The back nine is generally where you score here, so when I went five-under on the front I knew I was in the pound seats and you just have to make sure you don’t get complacent, you have to keep your foot on the pedal.

“I got on a run where I was able to sink almost every putt I looked at, which is a wonderful feeling. I holed some crucial par putts as well, which kept momentum on my side, and it’s always nice to go bogey-free.

“The Driver was more under control today and I gave myself a lot of opportunities to hit it close, and with the rain, the greens were holding. I had good swings, I hit my targets and my putter got really hot,” Jamieson explained.

While the stunning Leopard Creek Country Club is Jamieson’s favourite office in which to work, South Africa in general has been a very happy hunting ground for the Glaswegian who now lives in Florida.

Jamieson’s lone DP World Tour triumph came at the weather-shortened Nelson Mandela Championship at Royal Durban GC in 2012, and in terms of world ranking points, the two best performances in his career have also been in South Africa – runner-up finishes in the 2017 Nedbank Golf Challenge and the 2013 Volvo Golf Champions at Durban Country Club.

“100% my best performances have come in South Africa. I think it’s mostly to do with the grass type, I always enjoy playing on Kikuyu.

“They’ve changed the grass here to Cynodon [indigenous to South Africa], and I really enjoy that too.

“I’ve played this tournament several times and I feel that I’ve learnt a lot about the course. I expect it to get a lot harder on the weekend and hopefully I can use my experience to stay on top,” Jamieson said.

Three more foreigners are tied in second place on 10-under-par.

Frenchman David Ravetto completed back-to-back 67s on Friday, while Eddie Pepperell fired six birdies on the back nine for a 65.

But the other most outstanding round of the day came from another Englishman, Nathan Kimsey.

The winner of last season’s Challenge Tour order of merit was on nine-under for his round, including two eagles on the front nine, when he reached the par-five 18th.

Feeling that he had been too defensive in the first round, when he shot 70, Kimsey brought an aggressive approach to his play on Friday and so, even though his drive on the last hole was in the semi-rough, he still decided to go for the island green.

Unfortunately he overshot the green and landed in the water, finishing with a bogey and a 64, which was the course record until Jamieson overtook it an hour later.

There are four South Africans on nine-under-par, four behind Jamieson.

MJ Daffue started on the 10th and reached the turn on just two-under, but the USA-based player was fantastic on the front nine, going four-under in his last seven holes to sign for a 66.

First-round leader Burmester had five birdies but also three bogeys he described as “basic mistakes” as he scored a 70 on Friday, but Oliver Bekker (66) and Dylan Mostert (65) were both clinical in moving themselves into contention for the weekend.

Canadian Aaron Cockerill was also one of the stars of the second day, firing a 65 to also go into the weekend on nine-under.

CAPE ST FRANCIS, Eastern Cape – Golf can be a terribly cruel game at times and while leader Ockie Strydom was busy racking up a quadruple-bogey eight at the par-four 11^th hole, Ruan Korb was putting the finishing touches to his brilliant round of 63 by sinking yet another birdie putt on the final hole of the Vodacom Origins of Golf St Francis Links tournament on Saturday.

Korb’s third successive birdie, to go with two-in-a-row on the 12^th and 13^th holes, saw him go an astonishing nine-under-par in the final round, leaving him on 13-under-par for the tournament.

Strydom had been on 15-under before the awful shock of his snowman on the 11^th, and although he did well to not totally disintegrate, he could only par his way through to the close, settling for a level-par 72 after being four-under at the turn.

That left the 37-year-old in second place on 11-under, two behind Korb. Scottish veteran Doug McGuigan also challenged for the title, but bogeyed the last two holes when pushing for birdies to tie Korb, the 52-year-old closing with a 71 that left him on nine-under and in third place for the tournament.

The 28-year-old Korb admitted that it was just one of those idyllic days when every putt he looked at, he seemed to sink.

“I really enjoyed myself out there today, the weather was better and my putting was definitely the main reason for my win, every putt just seemed to find the bottom of the cup,” Korb said.

“My putting was certainly much better than when I finished second in the SunBet Challenge Time Square in August.”

The Silver Lakes golfer, who had begun the final round seven shots off the pace, had picked up decent momentum on the front nine with three birdies and a bogey in his first four holes, but he really began pushing for the title with a brilliant run that saw him eagle the par-five sixth and then pick up shots at the next two holes.

He was now 10-under for the tournament and in striking distance, but his charge was reversed as he had a 15-minute delay at the ninth tee while the group in front searched for balls. Korb lost concentration and bogeyed both nine and 10.

“I said before the round that if I could get to 14-under then I would have a chance, but waiting on the ninth was a bit of a momentum-breaker,” Korb said.

“But after those two bogeys I just tried to get calm and said to my caddie that we have to do something now otherwise the win is going to get away from us.”

Knowing he had to be positive, Korb birdied both the par-four 12^th and the par-five 13^th into the westerly wind, and then, with holes 16 and 17 heading in the opposite direction, he took advantage with two more birdies.

The three on the par-four 18^th was the icing on the cake for his second Sunshine Tour victory, his first coming at the Time Square Casino Challenge at Wingate Park Country Club in 2020.

“It’s a big confidence-booster to win at this time of year, with the big summer events coming up,” Korb said.

 

Alex Noren was not aiming high at the start of the final round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City on Sunday, but he was over the moon after a phenomenal nine-under-par round of 63 earned him a dazzling six-shot victory at Gary Player Country Club.

In the 36 editions of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, only two other golfers – Sergio Garcia (2001) and Ernie Els (2002) – have shot 63 in the final round to win and it’s fair to say the course was much easier back then.

The 34-year-old Swede started the day six strokes behind leader Jeunghun Wang, who had fired a wonderful 64 in incredibly tough conditions on the third day and seemed to already have one hand on the famous crystal trophy.

But Noren produced a magnificent front nine, that featured six birdies, and then eagled the 10th and birdied 11 to rocket into the lead, nine-under through 11 holes and playing golf that was simply out of this world.

“Honestly, I thought I had no chance at the start of the round, this is a really tricky course and the leader had shot 64 yesterday which was like 59 today.

“So I just wanted to get a good round in before the World Tour Championship in Dubai next week, to have a good positive feeling going there, work on my swing a bit. Anything under par I would have been happy,” Noren said after his fourth victory in his last 11 tournaments.

But after starting with three straight birdies he then also picked up a shot on the fifth and then sank a 30-foot putt for another birdie on the par-three seventh; two behind Wang, he started to believe.

“I was a bit nervous at the start, I didn’t feel on top of my game but something happened and after seven holes I started to realise that I must believe in myself that I can win. My putter was very hot and I got a lot more excited,” Noren said.

The 21-year-old Wang initially held things together well and was not going away as he birdied the ninth to draw level with Noren. But he could only muster one more birdie on the back nine and, with his tee-shots going ever more off-target, he was undone by four bogeys coming in, having to settle for second place.

Louis Oosthuizen, three off the lead at the start of the day, just could not get going on Sunday and double-bogeyed the par-three seventh after finding the greenside bunker to fall off the pace. He birdied the 10^th and 15^th holes, but there were more dropped shots on the last three holes as he finished ninth, nine behind Noren.

Andy Sullivan shot a level-par 72 on Sunday to finish on seven-under, tied for third with leading South African Branden Grace (70), Spaniard Alejandro Canizares (68), Frenchman Victor Dubuisson (68) and Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia (67).

Henrik Stenson shot a 70 to finish eighth on six-under and will be going to the Race to Dubai finale in Dubai this week on top of the order of merit, but with Danny Willett and Noren still able to catch him.