Jonathan Broomhead worked hard to maintain his place at the top of the leaderboard in a tricky third round of the Blue Label Challenge at the Gary Player Country Club on Friday.
After a haul of 19 and 12 points in the first two rounds of this tournament, which uses a modified stableford scoring system, Broomhead had to grind his way to an additional seven points in the third round.
But it was still enough to see him retain a lead he’s held since day one as he ended the round on 38 points overall.
Leader Jonathan Broomhead speaks ahead of the final round tomorrow. 🗣️#BlueLabelChallenge #GreatnessBeginsHere #SunshineTour pic.twitter.com/9ZkhVhddAA
— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) November 1, 2024
His nearest challengers are England’s Jack Hawksby and South Africa’s Ricky Hendler on 33 points.
Both Hawksby and Hendler added 10 points on Friday.
Pieter Moolman outscored the field with his 12 points on Friday, which lifted him into a share of fourth place on 26 points alongside Gerhard Pepler.
Broomhead had carried an eight-point lead from the first round, but the field quickly closed that gap on Friday.
The Durban professional was only one point clear at a stage during his round. However he finished strong with three birdies in his final four holes to give himself some breathing room again.
The 23-year-old is now one round away from claiming his second victory on the Sunshine Tour this season after winning the Vodacom Origins of Golf Wild Coast Sun a few weeks ago.
And in a strong show of the young talent currently on the Sunshine Tour, if Broomhead were to go on and win on Saturday he would become the third player 23 years old or younger to have won in the last four tournaments on Tour.
The 21-year-old Yurav Premlall made his breakthrough with a maiden Sunshine Tour victory in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Sishen in September.
Broomhead then added his win at the Wild Coast in October, and 23-year-old Robin Williams followed this by successfully defending his Fortress Invitational title.
SCORES:
38 - Jonathan Broomhead 19 12 7
33 - Jack Hawksby 8 15 10, Ricky Hendler 7 16 10
26 - Pieter Moolman 8 6 12, Gerhard Pepler 4 11 11
23 - Jacques Kruyswijk 4 8 11
22 - Ruan Korb 10 8 4
21 - Daniel van Tonder 0 11 10, Heinrich Bruiners 6 5 10
19 - Trevor Fisher Jnr 5 10 4
18 - Yurav Premlall 1 7 10, Lyle Rowe 3 9 6, Werner Deyzel 9 6 3, Casey Jarvis 4 11 3, JJ Senekal 8 8 2
17 - Jacques P de Villiers 3 4 10, Martin Vorster 3 4 10, Nikhil Rama 11 -1 7, Stuart Krog 7 7 3, Robin Williams 8 8 1, Louis Albertse 10 9 -2
16 - Rourke van der Spuy 5 3 8
15 - Jovan Rebula 5 -1 11, Rhys West 7 2 6
14 - George Coetzee 6 6 2, Neil Schietekat 8 4 2, Jason Roets 3 7 4, MJ Viljoen 3 11 0, Keegan Mclachlan 0 9 5
12 - Rupert Kaminski 7 -1 6, Herman Loubser 1 7 4, Keenan Davidse 6 7 -1, Franklin Manchest 5 4 3
11 - Jean Hugo 7 -2 6, Luke Brown 9 -4 6, Wynand Dingle 1 11 -1
10 - Malcolm Mitchell 7 -3 6, Altin van der Merwe 10 -1 1, Robson Chinhoi -4 13 1
9 - Michael Hollick -1 4 6, Hennie O'Kennedy 1 4 4, Brandon Gildenhuys 7 0 2
8 - Graham van der Merwe 2 6 0
7 - CJ du Plessis 1 2 4, Jacques Blaauw 2 1 4, Ethan Smith -3 7 3, Stefan Wears-Taylor 6 -1 2
6 - Otto Van Buynder 8 -5 3, Craig Ross 1 4 1, Hennie Otto 4 6 -4
5 - James Mack 2 6 -3
4 - Ruan de Smidt 0 3 1, Jake Redman -3 6 1
3 - Albert Venter -1 4 0, Jaco Van Zyl 3 2 -2, Peter Karmis -2 8 -3
2 - Jaden Deltel 3 1 -2, Kyle De Beer 11 -4 -5
1 - Samuel Simpson 2 1 -2, Pierre Pellegrin 5 5 -9
-3 - Joe Long -2 6 -7