Martin Couvra fired a superb third round of 67 to put one hand on the South African Stroke Play Championship, played at Mount Edgecombe’s The Lakes course.
The Frenchman, who is one of the top-ranked players in the field at 92nd on the World Amateur Golf Ranking, takes a four-stroke lead into the final round, leading a cosmopolitan chasing pack that features players from Ireland, Scotland, India and host country South Africa.
“I had a good day of ball striking,” the 19-year-old said. “Yesterday was more of a struggle but I played well today, and I was happy to see some putts drop.”
Ireland’s Joshua Hill, Scotland’s Matthew Wilson and reigning GolfRSA Champion of Champions JP van der Watt, from Humewood Golf Club, share second spot on five under par and have plenty of work to do it they want to overhaul the flying Frenchman.
“It is great to have a four-shot lead, but I can’t worry about what is happening behind me,” said Couvra. “I need to concentrate on my own game.
“This is a difficult golf course, with lots of trouble if you stray off line. The key is to keep the ball in play and hit the fairways and greens on the par threes and fours, and then attack the par fives.”
The game plan seems to be working and, over the first three rounds, Couvra is a combined 10 under par on the par fives.
Scotland’s Gregor Graham, who finished third in last week’s African Amateur, and South African Jordan Burnand lie in tie-fifth place on four-under, one stroke ahead of a pack of five players that includes Ireland’s Matthew McClean, India’s Shaurya Bhattacharya and local trio Tyron Davidowitz, Conner Mackenzie and Jono Broomhead.
Defending champion and South Africa’s No 1-ranked Broomhead made the biggest charge up the leaderboard on moving day, firing a blemish-free round 65 to move from a tie for 37th at the halfway stage to a tie for seventh.
After a slow start, the KwaZulu-Natal local sits six shots off the lead will likely need another low round to have a chance of repeating his 2022 win.
“It’s always nice to have a bogey-free round,” he said. “For the first two days I was struggling with my iron play, but I managed to get that right today and didn’t hit too many bad shots out there. The key was that I got the momentum going early and then managed to keep it steady and the birdies came.”
The Durban Country Club golfer fired three birdies on the trot on the from the third, and made another string of three after the turn. A final birdie on the 17th boosted him into the top 10.
“I’ll need another low one tomorrow, but I’m feeling confident about my game and if I can keep playing the way I did today, then I might have a chance.”
With bad weather expected to hit the final round of the South African Stroke Play Championship, the chasing pack will feel that they have a chance of reeling the runaway leader. For Couvra, destiny lies in his own hands.
207 Martin Couvra FRA 68 72 67
211 Jean Pierre van der Watt 70 71 70; Joshua Hill IRL 68 69 74; Matthew Wilson SCO 67 75 69
212 Gregor Graham SCO 73 69 70; Jordan Burnand 73 68 71
213 Jonathan Broomhead 75 73 65; Conner Mackenzie 75 69 69; Tyron Davidowitz 72 73 68; Shaurya Bhattacharya IND 70 72 71; Matthew Mcclean IRL 69 69 75
215 Gregor Tait SCO 72 73 70; Daniel Bennett 70 76 69
216Altin van der Merwe 73 73 70; Aldrich Potgieter 70 74 72
217Kyle de Beer 77 73 67; Meyer Pauw 72 75 70; Christopher Bagnall 71 74 72
218 Dylan Kayne 73 72 73; Werner Deyzel 71 73 74; Matthew Lotz 71 72 75; Adel Balala KEN 71 72 75; Robert Brazill IRL 69 76 73
219 Matt Roberts ENG 74 72 73; Martin Papworth 74 71 74; Janko van der Merwe 73 78 68; Astin Wade Arthur 73 70 76; Jamie Mann SCO 70 76 73; Hugh Foley IRL 70 73 76; Pascal Gunther 70 71 78
220 Jordan Wessels 75 75 70; Robert Moran IRL 74 74 72; Morris Schiefner 73 76 71; Rees Martin Emanuel 73 74 73
221 Zachary Chegwidden GBR 76 74 71; Thomas Austin AUT 74 74 73; Peter O?Keeffe IRL 74 71 76; Richard Knightly IRL 73 75 73; Ivan Verster 71 76 74; Filip Sakota 71 75 75
222 Kayle Wykes 73 74 75; Njoroge Kibugu 71 75 76; Oliver Goldhill 71 74 77; Stals Swart 70 76 76
223 Charl Barnard 77 74 72; Amilkar Bhana 77 73 73; Mark Stockdale ENG 75 75 73; Tiaan Tibshraeny 74 75 74
224 Craig Jacobs 78 72 74; Harimohan Singh IND 76 74 74; Damian Osner 75 76 73; Warwick Purchase 73 75 76; Jan-Hendrik Nieuwoudt 72 79 73; Dian Wilmot 72 76 76
225 Travis Procter 76 75 74
226 Vian Jansen van Vuuren 73 76 77; Keagan Crosbie 72 79 75
227 Christiaan Heyman 77 74 76; Akhil Maduray 77 72 78; Todd Parker 75 76 76; Travis Ladner 74 76 77; Jean du Toit 74 75 78; Simon du Plooy 72 79 76; Grant Labuschagne 72 76 79; Itai Cohen ISR 70 74 83
228 Vukasin Suturovic 81 69 78
231 Johann Christiaan Klopper 71 77 83
232 Vinamra Anand IND 73 77 82
234 Bryce Bibby 71 79 84
235 Thomas Lecomte SUI 79 70 86