Williams hunting Fortress Invitational glory

If Robin Williams was apprehensive about going into the weekend sharing the lead in just his 16th Sunshine Tour event then he certainly did not show it as he fired a superb 68 to stretch his lead to four shots after the third round of the Fortress Invitational at the Glendower Golf Club on Saturday.

The 22-year-old Williams collected six birdies and dropped just two shots on a blistering day in eastern Johannesburg, moving to 15-under-par as he goes into Sunday’s final round four strokes clear of Michael Hollick (70) on 11-under.

Williams started his third round in solid fashion with a couple of pars and then grabbed his first birdie on the par-four third hole, followed by another on the par-three fifth.

The UK-based golfer did drop a shot, however, on the next par-three, the eighth, but it proved nothing to worry about as Williams immediately birdied the ninth and 10th holes.

His ability to bounce back from mistakes was shown again as he bogeyed the par-five 11th but notched a two at the par-three 12th.

And the next par-five, the penultimate hole on the 6894-metre course, Williams birdied to further stretch his lead.

🎤 The leader with 18 holes to play, @IAmRobinTiger shares his thoughts 💭 #FortressInvitational | #GreatnessBeginsHere | #SunshineTour | @Fortress_Fund pic.twitter.com/hNnofCxoXM

— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) October 7, 2023

Heinrich Bruiners shared the lead with Williams after the second round and he seemed to be building a strong position for himself on Saturday when he followed six straight pars with birdies at the seventh and eighth holes.

But it then all rather unravelled for Bruiners as he bogeyed the par-four ninth and the par-five 11th, followed by a triple-bogey at the par-three 12th.

The 36-year-old came home in 40 to post a 75, which pushed him down the leaderboard, on eight-under-par and in sixth place.

Danie van Niekerk followed up his brilliant 64 in the second round with a solid 70 on Saturday, and he is alone in third place, five shots behind Williams on 10-under-par.

Nikhil Rama and Estiaan Conradie both shot par-72s in the third round and share fourth place on nine-under-par.

SCORES

201 - Robin Williams 66 67 68

205 - Michael Hollick 63 72 70

206 - Danie Van Niekerk 72 64 70

207 - Nikhil Rama 68 67 72, Estiaan Conradie 67 68 72

208 - Heinrich Bruiners 65 68 75

209 - Dan Erickson 70 70 69

210 - Jason Roets 70 71 69, Ulrich van den Berg 69 72 69, Gregory Mckay 71 69 70

211 - Kyle De Beer 69 74 68, Jacques P de Villiers 70 68 73

212 - Gerhard Trytsman 74 69 69, Callum Mowat 67 71 74

213 - Combrinck Smit 72 71 70, Keenan Davidse 69 73 71, Kyle Barker 73 69 71, Joe Long 73 65 75

214 - DK Kim 75 71 68, Jake Redman 72 72 70, Merrick Bremner 72 71 71, Anthony Michael 70 69 75

215 - Rhys West 71 75 69, Ruan Conradie 72 74 69, Luke Brown 69 76 70, Jean Hugo 71 74 70, Haydn Porteous 73 72 70, Pierre Pellegrin 72 71 72, Luke Jerling 72 71 72, Malcolm Mitchell 72 68 75, Kyle McClatchie 68 71 76, Daniel van Tonder 70 68 77

216 - Gerard du Plooy 73 71 72, Jordan Burnand 71 73 72

217 - Keagan Thomas 74 72 71, Gerhard Pepler 73 73 71, Matthew Spacey 74 72 71, Chris Cannon 73 70 74, Ricky Hendler 72 68 77, Trevor Fisher Jnr 63 74 80

218 - Marcel Steyn Scholtz 73 72 73, Altin van der Merwe 75 69 74, Karabo Mokoena 73 69 76, Robson Chinhoi 72 70 76, Fredrik From 70 71 77

219 - Jacques Blaauw 75 71 73, Martin Rohwer 70 76 73, Erhard Lambrechts 76 70 73, Adam Breen 69 76 74, Jack Hawksby 72 72 75, Toto Thimba Jnr 71 70 78

220 - Dayne Moore 76 70 74, Stefan Wears-Taylor 72 73 75, Nyasha Muyambo 73 71 76, Sean Bradley 67 77 76, Franklin Manchest 71 73 76, Sentanio Minnie 73 70 77

221 - James Mack 69 77 75, James Pennington 71 75 75

222 - Ruan Korb 70 76 76

223 - Jovan Rebula 75 71 77, Wade Jacobs 72 73 78

224 - Siyanda Mwandla 74 72 78

225 - Luke Trocado 76 70 79

226 - David Wicks 71 75 80