Shaun Norris will take a four-stroke lead into Sunday’s final round of the Joburg Open as he chases a third DP World Tour title and his second in just under three months.
Norris navigated his way superbly through some tricky third-round pin positions at Houghton Golf Club and signed for a 67 on Saturday to lead on 14 under par overall.
His nearest challengers are fellow South African Jacques Kruyswijk and Frenchman Adrien Saddier on 10 under par. Kruyswijk, who finished fourth in the 2023 Joburg Open and who won his maiden DP World Tour title in February’s Magical Kenya Open, signed for a third round of 68. Saddier posted a third round of 70.
Norris was still suffering from the ear infection that has plagued him this week, but it’s showing no signs of affecting his golf. He went into the third round just one shot clear of the field and that gap remained at the turn. But then Norris made three key birdies in five holes from the 10th to extend his lead.
“The ear is still blocked and I can’t hear out of it. It was a little bit sore but the doctor has given me some good pain pills. It hasn’t been bothering me on the golf course. But when my brother (his caddie) is on my left-hand side I can’t hear a thing he says to me,” he said.
“But I hit the ball nicely and gave myself some good chances. Overall I can’t complain about the round. There were some bad shots here and there, but that’s golf. It’s more about how you handle the rest of the round.”
With the final round to come, Norris has no intention of playing it safe on Sunday.
“It’s nice to lead by four, but I want to win by 10 shots. So I’ll just keep going and change nothing.”
Behind him, Kruyswijk is relishing the final round challenge.
“I love chasing a leader. It’s why I play this game. I’m looking forward to a nice battle in the final round. Shaun’s playing some really good golf and it will take a lot to beat him,” said Kruyswijk, whose third round included a wedge holed out for eagle on the par-five 10th hole.
And Saddier is hoping for a few putts to drop early on as he also chases this title.
“If that happens, I can put a bit of pressure on the leader and I can have a good day,” he said.
Tickets for the Joburg Open are available at https://sunshinetour.com/tickets
SCORES
196 - Shaun Norris 66 63 67
200 - Jacques Kruyswijk 65 67 68, Adrien Saddier 65 65 70
201 - Nicolai Von Dellingshausen 64 68 69
202 - Robin Williams 67 71 64, Jacob Olesen 65 72 65, Kieran Vincent 66 69 67, Daniel van Tonder 67 68 67, Jaco Ahlers 66 68 68, Daniel Brown 68 65 69, Ugo Coussaud 65 68 69
203 - Marcel Siem 70 66 67, Adrian Otaegui 69 67 67, Connor Syme 66 65 72
204 - Gerhard Pepler 69 67 68, Dylan Frittelli 65 70 69, Calum Hill 69 66 69, Callum Tarren 64 68 72
205 - Rhys Enoch 69 68 68, Brandon Robinson Thompson 68 68 69, Malcolm Mitchell 64 70 71, Wenyi Ding 63 69 73, Richard Mansell 65 67 73, Shubhankar Sharma 66 65 74
206 - Sam Bairstow 69 70 67, Pieter Moolman 69 70 67, Jeong Weon Ko 69 68 69, Thomas Aiken 70 66 70, Jordan Gumberg 71 64 71, Niklas Lemke 71 64 71, Todd Clements 68 67 71, Jayden Schaper 64 70 72, Joost Luiten 66 66 74
207 - Pierre Pineau 70 69 68, Luke Brown 69 69 69, Brandon Stone 67 70 70, Richie Ramsay 70 67 70, Hennie Otto 66 71 70, Marco Penge 64 69 74
208 - Nikhil Rama 68 71 69, Kyle Barker 69 70 69, Nathan Kimsey 68 70 70, Ryan Van Velzen 70 68 70, Romain Langasque 67 70 71, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia 69 68 71, Veer Ahlawat 73 63 72, Sean Crocker 67 68 73, Francesco Laporta 67 68 73
209 - Graham van der Merwe 71 68 70, Luke Jerling 71 68 70, Ryggs Johnston 70 68 71, Franklin Manchest 68 70 71, Jordan Smith 63 74 72, Jaco Van Zyl 67 70 72, Martin Rohwer 69 68 72, Bjorn Akesson 68 69 72, George Coetzee 67 69 73, Louis Albertse 67 68 74, Ben Schmidt 68 66 75, Maximilian Steinlechner 67 67 75
210 - Danny List 66 73 71, Martin Vorster 69 69 72
211 - Darius van Driel 69 70 72, Alexander Levy 67 71 73, Ewen Ferguson 69 69 73, Matthew Southgate 71 67 73, Andy Sullivan 70 68 73
212 - Jacques Blaauw 70 69 73, Kyle McClatchie 70 68 74, Jens Dantorp 71 67 74
213 - Michael Hollick 68 71 74, Gavin Green 65 72 76
214 - Zander Lombard 71 68 75, Jacques P de Villiers 70 69 75, Ross Fisher 68 70 76, Freddy Schott 70 68 76, Rhys West 66 68 80
221 - Benjamin Follett-Smith 69 70 82
Missed the cut:-
140 - Lyle Pedro 71 69, Ethan Smith 71 69, Stals Swart 71 69, MJ Viljoen 70 70, Louis de Jager 73 67, Simon Forsstrom 73 67, Robson Chinhoi 72 68, Casey Jarvis 71 69, Dan Bradbury 71 69, Alejandro Del Rey 70 70, Ricardo Gouveia 72 68, Kayle Wykes 70 70, Jordan Duminy 68 72, Merrick Bremner 68 72, Tom Vaillant 68 72, Wilco Nienaber 65 75, Heinrich Bruiners 70 70, Aaron Cockerill 67 73, Dylan Naidoo 70 70, Toto Thimba Jnr 67 73
141 - Haydn Porteous 73 68, Julien Brun 69 72, CJ du Plessis 71 70, Richard Sterne 69 72, Lucas Bjerregaard 72 69, Jack Senior 65 76, David Ravetto 74 67, Deon Germishuys 70 71, Tapio Pulkkanen 68 73, Combrinck Smit 73 68, Manuel Elvira 70 71, Jean Hugo 71 70
142 - Dylan Mostert 72 70, Darren Fichardt 71 71, Danie Van Niekerk 76 66, Dale Whitnell 68 74, Nicolas Colsaerts 72 70
143 - Matthias Schwab 73 70, Rafa Cabrera Bello 74 69, Lyle Rowe 76 67, JC Ritchie 74 69, John Parry 72 71, Ruan Korb 73 70, Neil Schietekat 74 69
144 - Peter Karmis 74 70, Mikael Lindberg 69 75, Jovan Rebula 72 72, Corey Shaun 75 69, Matthew Spacey 70 74, Joel Girrbach 73 71, Jonathan Broomhead 72 72, Johannes Veerman 71 73
145 - Ruan Conradie 76 69, Trevor Fisher Jnr 72 73, Joel Moscatel 73 72, Matthew Baldwin 73 72, Yurav Premlall 72 73, Ivan Verster 76 69
146 - Musiwalo Nethunzwi 70 76, Jake Redman 72 74, Jastice Mashego 72 74, Scott Jamieson 72 74
147 - Ivan Cantero 71 76, Keith Horne 76 71, Kazuma Kobori 70 77
148 - Stefan Wears-Taylor 78 70, JJ Senekal 75 73, Albert Venter 75 73
149 - Anthony Michael 77 72, Trevor Mahoney 72 77
150 - Rupert Kaminski 71 79
151 - Hayden Griffiths 73 78, Makhetha Mazibuko 71 80
154 - Keelan van Wyk 77 77
159 - Tristin Galant 81 78
WDN - Stephen Ferreira 83 WDN WDN, Oliver Bekker 69 RTD RTD, Keenan Davidse 75 RTD RTD