Ken Borland

Englishman Ross Fisher stretched his lead to five strokes as he fired a five-under-par 67 in the third round of the European Tour/Sunshine Tour co-sanctioned Tshwane Open at the Els Club Copperleaf on Saturday.

Fisher had started the penultimate day with just a one-shot lead over Morten Orum Madsen, and two ahead of Simon Dyson and Carlos del Moral, but the 2010 Ryder Cup player birdied the sixth, seventh and ninth holes to reach the turn in 33 and then collected two more birdies on the back nine as he took firm control of the R22.3 million tournament.

The 33-year-old will go into the final round on 18-under-par, with his nearest challengers being Northern Irishman Michael Hoey on 13-under, Dyson and Del Moral on 12-under and seven golfers on 11-under, including South Africans Merrick Bremner, Hennie Otto, Danie van Tonder, Trevor Fisher Junior and Darren Fichardt.

On a wet, miserable day, no one was really able to make a move on Fisher, with compatriot Robert Rock’s seven-under-par 65 the best round of the day and that moved him into a tie for 12^th on 10-under.

Madsen, who won the South African Open in Johannesburg in November, unravelled badly and his round was like a disaster movie, finishing with three successive bogeys to leave him on nine-under for the tournament, nine strokes behind Fisher, and in a tie for 15^th.

Fisher, who began his third round with two bogeys in his first five holes, said his aim in the final round would be to produce birdies and thereby eliminate the threat of the sort of exciting come-from-behind charge the promoters of the tournament would love.

“Five shots is a nice lead, but I expect good scores behind me in the final round, especially if the weather is hot and sunny. So I’ll be aiming to shoot in the 60s again, I’ll play aggressively and make as many birdies as possible. In that way I’ll put heat on the others and they’ll have to shoot something silly to catch me,” Fisher said after his third-successive sub-68 round.

Fisher, a prodigious driver of the ball, has overcome the longest course in European Tour history with his excellence off the tee and some brilliant long-iron play, hitting 86% of the greens in regulation. When he errs, he knows his short game is good enough to make up for it, as shown by fine up-and-downs on the 14^th and 18^th holes.

Hoey managed to maintain the momentum from his second round, in which he collected seven successive birdies on the back nine, to shoot a 69 on Friday and climb even further up the leaderboard.

“I kept my rhythm well from yesterday and I was able to tap into those seven birdies in a row. The course is long and wet, and I was very happy with my putting.

“I had a couple of sloppy swings and misjudgements, but it’s easier to accept those when you’re putting well and scoring well,” Hoey said after his round that included three bogeys and six birdies.

Both Dyson and Del Moral struggled to get going on Saturday, shooting one-under-par 71s, and Fisher is clearly going to be extremely hard to beat in the final round.

“I’m playing as good as ever, similar to when I contended in the majors, and my goal is to get back into the top 50 in the world – I feel I belong there. To win here would be a massive confidence boost and a step in the right direction,” Fisher said.

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Englishman Ross Fisher has stormed into the lead after the second round of the Tshwane Open at the Els Club Copperleaf with a brilliant seven-under-par 65 in the co-sanctioned event on Friday.

Fisher has represented Europe in the Ryder Cup and been ranked as high as number 17 in the world, but has struggled in recent times with his putting. But the 33-year-old showed on Friday what a quality player he is when all facets of his game click, as it did on the back nine where he picked up four birdies and an eagle.

Ross Fisher - happy with his putter

Fisher is on 13-under-par for the tournament and has a one-stroke lead over SA Open champion Morten Orum Madsen, who also shot a 65. That best score of the day was matched by Spaniard Carlos del Moral, who climbed into a tie for third on 11-under with joint first-round leader Simon Dyson.

South Africa’s Jake Roos also shot a 65 to climb to 10-under alongside compatriots Trevor Fisher Junior, who began the second round sharing the lead with Dyson, and Darren Fichardt, who was once again bogey-free in making 68 on Friday.

Fisher, who has not played in South Africa since the 2007/8 summer, said his strong desire to make the Ryder Cup team again has prompted his return to these shores. The move paid off with a tied-third finish at the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek  and a tied-10^th finish at the Joburg Open earlier this month.

“Having been in the Ryder Cup in 2010, having that experience, and then missing it in 2012, I was gutted. This year’s Ryder Cup team is a massive goal of mine. I feel that my game is better and I really want to make a strong push for the team, that’s why I’m playing more tournaments like these,” Fisher said.

“It’s very difficult for us as foreigners to win here because the South Africans obviously know how to play here. But I’ve felt ready to win for a long time, it’s just piecing all the departments of my game together in one tournament. The long game has been there for a while and my irons, it’s just the putting that has let me down. To see the ball go in today has given me lots of confidence.”

The back nine was the place to go low on Friday – Northern Ireland’s Michael Hoey collected seven birdies in a row to move to 10-under – and Madsen was another to excel, although he started his round on the 10^th hole.

“I birdied four of the first five and that’s always a great way to start off your round and put yourself in a good mindset. I had a hiccup on 15 and 16 not making birdie there, but luckily I got one on 17 and I was off and rolling again,” Madsen said.

The highly-promising Dane said he had to police his emotions on the front nine and he managed to remain bogey-free.

“Winning has calmed me down a little bit, just by knowing what to expect. It’s hard to birdie every hole and you’ve got to deal with adversity well, because you’re not going to play perfect golf for 72 holes. Whoever deals with the bad holes and bad shots the best is probably also the guy who’s going to be on top come Sunday. I stayed patient in the beginning of my back nine and made a couple of birdies on six and seven, and then I saved a nice par on nine, so it was a nice way to finish,” the 25-year-old said.

Dyson also started on the back nine and was level-par at the turn, but managed to come home in four-under to remain strongly in contention.

“I was missing a few drives and a few shots into the greens. I managed to correct it coming in and four-under is about right, it keeps the confidence going,” Dyson said.

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