Kinhult stalking glory at Leopard Creek

Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult held onto his lead by the end of a difficult third round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship as he now chases a second DP World Tour title at Leopard Creek on Sunday.

In temperatures far cooler than the previous days, Kinhult put together a solid 69 to head the field on 14 under par.

🔝 Our #dunhillchamps leader going into tomorrow’s final day pic.twitter.com/bh1UYCoHC5

— Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (@dunhilllinks) December 14, 2024

He heads into the final round two strokes clear of South Africa’s Ryan van Velzen, who signed for an incredible 65 to climb to 12 under par. And Darius van Driel from The Netherlands kept himself in contention on 11 under par with a 67.

Despite the cooler weather, it was a far from easy day for the majority of those near the top of the leaderboard.

Charl Schwartzel saw his challenge falter with a 74 that was a tale of two nines, including a front nine of 42 and a back nine of 32. He ended the day on five under par overall.

And Dean Burmester fought hard for a 70 – including two double bogeys – to keep himself in the tournament at 10 under par.

“It was a bit more of a grind today,” said Kinhult. “The good was very good, but I left myself in some tough positions as well. But I think I did pretty well. I don’t know the stats, but it felt like it was definitely less greens in regulation and more pressure on my short game.”

Kinhult is hunting his first win since 2019 and believes Leopard Creek sets up perfectly for him to achieve this on Sunday.

“Sleeping on a lead is not easy. But I enjoy playing this golf course. I like what I see on this golf course. It suits my eye. There are some tough holes but I do really like this course. If I can drive the ball well and put myself in good positions off the tee, that’s how you score well here. I’m looking forward to the challenge of the final round. It’s a tight leaderboard and I’m going to need a good round to win.”

Van Velzen is relishing being in contention for a maiden DP World Tour title.

“I’m hitting my driver so well at the moment, and I think I’ve gone two rounds without a bogey now. I’m staying away from flags I can’t go for. I’m playing very nicely,” he said.

And further behind, Burmester believes there’s still everything to play for on Sunday.

“Being four shots behind around here is nothing. Anything can happen here. Marcus is playing well and looks comfortable, but I can only control what I can do. I like winning tournaments from behind.”

The championship will be live on SuperSport from 11:30-16:30 South Africa time on Sunday.

SCORES

202 - Marcus Kinhult 65 68 69

204 - Ryan Van Velzen 70 69 65

205 - Darius van Driel 67 71 67

206 - Angel Ayora 71 70 65, Romain Langasque 68 70 68, Joost Luiten 71 67 68, Matthew Southgate 70 67 69, Dean Burmester 69 67 70

207 - John Parry 67 71 69, Casey Jarvis 65 72 70, Martin Couvra 71 66 70, Wenyi Ding 68 69 70, Dale Whitnell 69 67 71

208 - Hamish Brown 75 66 67, Shaun Norris 67 70 71, Andy Sullivan 64 73 71

209 - Yurav Premlall 73 66 70, Simon Forsstrom 73 65 71, Alex Fitzpatrick 65 72 72

210 - Benjamin Follett-Smith 71 69 70, Oliver Lindell 71 69 70, Keenan Davidse 69 68 73

211 - Lucas Bjerregaard 72 71 68, Tom McKibbin 69 73 69, Laurie Canter 71 70 70, Nathan Kimsey 67 72 72, Charl Schwartzel 71 66 74

212 - Marcel Schneider 71 72 69, Ugo Coussaud 69 72 71, Erik van Rooyen 72 67 73, Jens Dantorp 70 69 73, Brandon Stone 67 72 73, Joel Moscatel 72 66 74, Andrea Pavan 67 69 76

213 - Gavin Green 71 72 70, Pieter Moolman 70 72 71, Ryggs Johnston 68 73 72, Louis Albertse 73 68 72, Manuel Elvira 72 69 72, Herman Loubser 74 66 73, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 75 65 73, Frederic Lacroix 70 67 76

214 - Richard Mansell 72 71 71, Jacques Blaauw 73 70 71, Jorge Campillo 71 72 71, Alexander Levy 74 68 72, Aldrich Potgieter 72 70 72, Scott Jamieson 71 71 72

215 - Julien Guerrier 68 75 72, Nacho Elvira 68 71 76

216 - Sean Crocker 72 71 73, Bjorn Akesson 74 69 73, Matthew Baldwin 70 73 73, Kieron van Wyk 70 73 73, Rupert Kaminski 71 72 73, Jack Senior 71 71 74, Benjamin Hebert 73 69 74, Matti Schmid 68 73 75, Dylan Frittelli 72 68 76, Nikhil Rama 68 71 77, Adrian Otaegui 71 67 78

219 - Pierre Pineau 74 69 76, Kristoffer Reitan 68 74 77, Ockie Strydom 71 70 78

220 - Kyle McClatchie 72 70 78

222 - Matthew Spacey 73 70 79

Missed the cut:-

144 - Dan Bradbury 70 74, JC Ritchie 71 73, Aaron Cockerill 71 73, Heinrich Bruiners 70 74, Francesco Laporta 73 71, Jaco Ahlers 75 69, Ulrich van den Berg 70 74, Louis Oosthuizen 71 73, Darren Fichardt 72 72

145 - Malcolm Mitchell 73 72, Sam Bairstow 74 71, Brandon Gildenhuys 72 73, Robson Chinhoi 71 74, Daniel Bennett 74 71, Jeong Weon Ko 74 71, Thomas Aiken 74 71, Oliver Bekker 71 74, Jaco Van Zyl 72 73, Ruan Conradie 72 73

146 - MJ Viljoen 73 73, Connor Syme 72 74, Jean Hugo 72 74, Conor Purcell 75 71, Keelan van Wyk 74 72, Jaco Prinsloo 74 72, Jonathan Broomhead 71 75, Wilco Nienaber 70 76, Bernd Wiesberger 76 70, Jovan Rebula 73 73, Richard Sterne 71 75

147 - Michael Hollick 74 73, Thriston Lawrence 75 72, Jordan Gumberg 76 71, Altin van der Merwe 71 76, Jordan Burnand 75 72, Joe Dean 71 76, Nicolai Von Dellingshausen 72 75, CJ du Plessis 73 74, Christiaan Maas 73 74, Justin Walters 72 75

148 - David Ravetto 74 74, Hennie Otto 74 74, Dylan Mostert 74 74, George Coetzee 72 76, Louis de Jager 73 75, Makhetha Mazibuko 72 76, Martin Rohwer 75 73, Rhys Enoch 74 74, Gregor Graham 73 75, Lyle Rowe 73 75, Albert Venter 74 74, Ruan Korb 76 72

149 - Brandon Robinson Thompson 77 72, Kyle Barker 81 68, Keith Horne 75 74, Deon Germishuys 72 77, Joel Girrbach 76 73, Neil Schietekat 73 76, JJ Senekal 73 76, Nicolas Colsaerts 79 70, Luke Jerling 74 75

150 - Dylan Naidoo 76 74, Kyle De Beer 74 76, Joakim Lagergren 74 76, Eddie Pepperell 81 69, Jacquin Hess 77 73

151 - Pablo Larrazabal 73 78, Wynand Dingle 75 76, Mikael Lindberg 74 77

152 - Trevor Fisher Jnr 81 71, Jayden Schaper 74 78, Sentanio Minnie 76 76, Gerard du Plooy 75 77

153 - Gerhard Pepler 80 73, Jacques P de Villiers 75 78, Robin Williams 76 77, Peter Karmis 76 77, Jordan Duminy 81 72

154 - Daniel van Tonder 71 83

155 - Musiwalo Nethunzwi 80 75, Stefan Wears-Taylor 69 86

156 - Ross Fisher 81 75, Combrinck Smit 75 81

157 - Astin Arthur 78 79, Gregory Mckay 82 75

161 - Steven Le Roux 75 86

163 - Christopher Long 82 81

RTD - Calum Hill RTD RTD RTD, Alvaro Quiros 74 RTD RTD, Franklin Manchest 77 RTD RTD