Jaco Ahlers, JJ Senekal and Ockie Strydom have set up a thrilling finale to the Stella Artois Players Championship as they head into Sunday’s final round in a three-way tie for the lead on 13 under par.
The trio are one shot clear of Estiaan Conradie and Rourke van der Spuy, while Luke Jerling produced a scintillating 62 to climb to 10 under par overall.
Senekal had a terrific run of four birdies and an eagle over the turn which carried him into a share of the lead as he signed for a 67. Ahlers produced a solid 69 to take his share of the lead, and Strydom – who led by two going into the third round – birdied the last for a 71 to keep himself in contention.
But apart from Jerling’s incredible round, it was a far tougher day of scoring at Dainfern than in the previous rounds.
“It was a lot windier and the greens have started firming up quite a bit. If you keep missing it on the wrong side of the flag you can have quite a difficult time,” said Ahlers.
As a nine-time winner on the Sunshine Tour, Ahlers is hoping his experience will make the difference in the final round.
“It’s always good to lead, but I feel like today could have been so much more different. I hit good putts but they just didn’t go in. I don’t think I need to look too much into it. I had four lip-outs and a few other putts that missed by fractions, so I’ll just put it down to being one of those days.”
Ahlers will be seeing out the Sunshine Tour season with this week’s tournament and then next week’s season-ending Tour Championship before he heads off to Korea for his Asian Tour duties.
“It’s a good two weeks these. If you do well you can jump a few places on the Order of Merit, although that number one spot (currently held by Shaun Norris) is pretty much out of our reach. But it’s a good two weeks to end the season with.”
LEADING THIRD-ROUND SCORES
200 - JJ Senekal 69 64 67, Jaco Ahlers 64 67 69, Ockie Strydom 66 63 71
201 - Estiaan Conradie 67 68 66, Rourke van der Spuy 69 65 67
202 - Adilson Da Silva 70 68 64, Tristen Strydom 64 72 66, Madalitso Muthiya 63 70 69
203 - Luke Jerling 70 71 62, Keenan Davidse 72 66 65, Jaco Prinsloo 67 65 71, Keith Horne 69 63 71
204 - CJ du Plessis 68 69 67, Jacques Blaauw 68 68 68, Stefan Wears-Taylor 69 66 69, Hennie O'Kennedy 68 66 70, Jared Harvey 66 67 71
205 - Louis Albertse 68 71 66, Dylan Mostert 72 67 66, Malcolm Mitchell 72 66 67, Jayden Schaper 70 67 68, Luca Filippi 65 71 69, Martin Rohwer 70 66 69
206 - Jake Redman 70 70 66, Kyle Barker 68 71 67, Merrick Bremner 69 69 68, Freddy Schott 69 67 70, Pieter Moolman 70 66 70, Michael Palmer 67 68 71, Jean Hugo 68 67 71, Dylan Naidoo 64 71 71
207 - George Coetzee 73 68 66, Christiaan Basson 66 73 68, Keagan Thomas 68 69 70, Clinton Grobler 71 66 70, Rupert Kaminski 67 70 70, Neil Schietekat 67 69 71, Luke Brown 66 69 72
208 - Hayden Griffiths 71 70 67, Peter Karmis 71 70 67, Derick Petersen 68 72 68, Ricky Hendler 70 70 68, Harry Konig 68 72 68, Hennie Otto 72 67 69, Richard Joubert 67 69 72, Martin Vorster 68 67 73
209 - Stuart Smith 70 71 68, Roberto Lupini 71 70 68, Divan van den Heever 68 71 70, Toto Thimba Jnr 71 68 70, James Kingston 69 70 70, Deon Germishuys 69 69 71
210 - Lyle Rowe 71 70 69, Trevor Fisher Jnr 71 70 69, Chris Swanepoel 70 71 69, Yubin Jung 73 67 70, Jack Duthie 70 68 72, Jacquin Hess 69 69 72
211 - Byron Coetzee 72 69 70
212 - Albert Venter 70 71 71, Allister de Kock 68 73 71, Cameron Moralee 71 69 72, Ruan Conradie 71 67 74, Siyanda Mwandla 69 68 75
213 - Wallie Coetsee 72 69 72, Stephen Ferreira 70 71 72, Combrinck Smit 66 72 75
214 - MJ Viljoen 69 71 74
215 - Mark Williams 73 68 74, Heinrich Bruiners 69 72 74
216 - Jason Roets 69 72 75
217 - Teaghan Gauche 71 70 76
220 - Leon Visser 72 69 79