On a day when Gary Player arrived at the Investec South African Open, young South African Thriston Lawrence moved a step closer to joining the legend and other greats of the game as a winner of this historic title.
Lawrence heads into Sunday’s final round with a two-shot lead on 18 under par following a 67 on Saturday. His nearest challenger is Frenchman Clément Sordet on 16 under following a third-round 66, with Sweden’s Jens Fahrbring in third place on 12 under after a 69.
Lawrence’s putter was again the key to his success and kept him in a lead he has held since the first round.
“The putting has definitely been key. It was good fun out there. It started off well with a birdie on the first and then I lost a bit of momentum around the turn. But yes, 18 under. I didn’t think the winning score would be 18 under to be honest, and now I’m there after three rounds,” he said.
Lawrence won twice in his rookie season on the DP World Tour last year, becoming the first South African in history to win the Tour’s Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award.
And now he has the chance to add his name to one of the most historic trophies in world golf.
“It’s our country’s Open and I’m playing good golf. I’m enjoying it. We had a good crowd out there and I have most of my family here. It’s been fun.”
Sordet is also looking forward to a final round battle in a country where he won a Challenge Tour event earlier this year and experienced a trophy handover from an elephant.
“It’s been a lot of fun. I know Thriston is a really good player and he is playing well. It will be challenging to catch him but I’ll give it my best,” he said.
The talented amateur Christiaan Maas leads the race for the Freddie Tait Cup awarded to the leading amateur. Maas was right in the hunt for the main professional title at the start of the third round at only three shots off the lead. But a difficult third round of 72 dropped him to nine under par overall but still putting in a strong showing.
Scores:
198 - Thriston Lawrence 64 67 67
200 - Clement Sordet 68 66 66
204 - Jens Fahrbring 65 70 69
205 - Ashun Wu 71 67 67
206 - Martin Simonsen 73 68 65, Wilco Nienaber 67 69 70, Christiaan Maas 69 65 72
207 - Dean Burmester 70 71 66, Deon Germishuys 69 69 69, Marcel Siem 69 68 70, Edoardo Molinari 67 70 70, Adrian Otaegui 70 66 71, Ross Fisher 65 71 71
208 - Matti Schmid 66 73 69, James Hart du Preez 70 68 70, Simon Forsstrom 71 70 67, MJ Daffue 71 64 73, Ockie Strydom 70 63 75
209 - Renato Paratore 70 70 69, Jaco Prinsloo 70 71 68, Alejandro Del Rey 72 67 70, Joost Luiten 72 69 68, Scott Jamieson 66 71 72, Hennie du Plessis 70 72 67
210 - Francesco Laporta 71 69 70, Yurav Premlall 72 67 71, Jayden Schaper 68 72 70, David Ravetto 71 69 70, Daniel Brown 71 70 69, Gary Hurley 69 70 71, Wynand Dingle 71 68 71, Albert Venter 71 70 69, Jeong Weon Ko 69 66 75
211 - Zander Lombard 69 71 71, Luke Brown 67 72 72, Brandon Stone 72 69 70, Christoffer Bring 68 71 72, JJ Senekal 66 75 70, Jens Dantorp 68 73 70, Nathan Kimsey 69 69 73, Tom McKibbin 67 71 73, Tapio Pulkkanen 70 67 74, Romain Langasque 71 71 69, Charl Schwartzel 68 74 69, Chase Hanna 69 73 69
212 - Jorge Campillo 73 67 72, Louis Albertse 73 66 73, Santiago Tarrio 67 72 73, Rourke van der Spuy 71 68 73, Thomas Aiken 68 73 71, Dylan Frittelli 70 71 71, Freddy Schott 70 71 71
213 - Jacques Kruyswijk 70 69 74, Darren Fichardt 68 70 75, Marc Warren 68 69 76, Kristian Krogh Johannessen 68 74 71, Aldrich Potgieter 71 71 71, Sami Valimaki 72 70 71
214 - Richard Sterne 69 71 74, Merrick Bremner 71 69 74, Dan Bradbury 68 71 75, Oliver Bekker 71 68 75, Aaron Cockerill 68 74 72, Todd Clements 72 70 72
215 - Pieter Moolman 70 71 74, Daniel van Tonder 74 68 73, JC Ritchie 73 69 73, Adrien Saddier 73 69 73
216 - Malcolm Mitchell 71 70 75, Tristen Strydom 70 71 75, Alex Haindl 70 71 75
218 - Jean Hugo 70 69 79, Kyle De Beer 69 72 77, MJ Viljoen 71 70 77, Jonathan Broomhead 71 70 77
220 - Lukas Nemecz 73 68 79, Matthew Spacey 70 69 81
Missed the cut: -
143 - Toto Thimba Jnr 70 73, Shaun Norris 73 70, George Coetzee 71 72, Anthony Michael 67 76, Mateusz Gradecki 68 75, Marcus Armitage 75 68, Martin Rohwer 70 73, Sean Crocker 71 72, Jeremy Freiburghaus 69 74, Mikael Lindberg 70 73, Angel Hidalgo 73 70, Bryce Easton 70 73, Sam Hutsby 69 74, John Murphy 74 69, Gudmundur Kristjansson 72 71
144 - Heinrich Bruiners 73 71, Joshua Lee 75 69, Matthew Baldwin 73 71, Erik van Rooyen 73 71, Brooklin Bailey 73 71, Adam Breen 73 71, Nick Bachem 70 74, Matthew Southgate 71 73, Jbe Kruger 74 70, Michael Palmer 71 73, Tobias Eden 75 69
145 - Robin Sciot-Siegrist 71 74, Grant Forrest 73 72, Louis de Jager 73 72, Callum Mowat 73 72, Alexander Knappe 72 73, Jaco Ahlers 73 72, Daniel Gavins 69 76, Luca Filippi 70 75
146 - Estiaan Conradie 77 69, Justin Walters 71 75, Philip Eriksson 75 71, Keelan Africa 73 73, Gary Stal 71 75
147 - Nicholaus Frade 76 71, Janko van der Merwe 73 74, Jean-Paul Strydom 72 75, Lyle Rowe 73 74, Luke Jerling 70 77, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 71 76, Herman Loubser 75 72, Dylan Naidoo 74 73, Stephen Ferreira 77 70, Jake Redman 73 74
148 - Rhys Enoch 72 76, Darius van Driel 75 73, Matias Calderon 75 73, Keenan Davidse 71 77, Hennie Otto 73 75, Jacques Blaauw 75 73
149 - Anton Karlsson 75 74, James Morrison 72 77, Andrew Williamson 73 76, Wade Jacobs 77 72, Rupert Kaminski 73 76, Dylan Mostert 75 74, Ruan Korb 75 74
150 - Casey Jarvis 77 73, Dale Whitnell 72 78, Combrinck Smit 71 79, Jaco Van Zyl 74 76
151 - Ruan Conradie 75 76, CJ du Plessis 71 80, Joachim B. Hansen 76 75
152 - Keelan van Wyk 77 75
153 - Graeme Storm 78 75, John Axelsen 75 78
158 - Nikhil Rama 78 80
WDN - Oliver Hundeboll 78 WDN
RTD - Jacquin Hess 72 RTD, Gerard du Plooy 77 RTD, Haydn Porteous 76 RTD, Branden Grace 71 RTD, Toby Tree 77 RTD