Matteo Manassero held his nerve and the lead on another low-scoring day at the Jonsson Workwear Open and will head into Sunday’s final round chasing his first DP World Tour title in 11 years.
The Italian signed for a third round of 67 that was briefly interrupted by a weather delay and heads the field on 20 under par.
His nearest challengers are South Africa’s Shaun Norris and England’s Jordan Smith on 19 under par following their respective rounds of 65 in this Sunshine Tour co-sanctioned tournament.
And the leaderboard remains tight thereafter with South Africa’s Oliver Bekker and Spain’s Angel Hidalgo just two shots behind Manassero.
Manassero did a superb job of keeping his emotions in check following his stunning 61 on Friday, and even after a bogey at the third he showed the hard mental work he has done to go from golf prodigy early in his career and then battle through a long slump to get to this moment again.
“It was good today. I hit a bad shot on three but it’s never easy in the beginning of the round. This course requires a lot of precision off the tee. After that bogey I did my things right and it was one of those days I allowed myself to get into the rhythm and started playing better as the round went on,” he said.
Manassero is of course keenly aware of what a story his victory on Sunday would represent in golf, but is doing his utmost to focus on the present.
“It would mean a lot to win. But it is already a nice journey up to today. We’ll think about tomorrow tomorrow. It’s really difficult to close tournaments out and win. I’m in a position I’m really happy to be in and all I can do is not force anything or feel like I must do something tomorrow. I’ll just be myself and play golf. I’m sure of the things I do, and you never know what golf will bring you. There are a lot of things not under my control that will happen tomorrow so I’ll just play my game,” he said.
Just one shot behind him, Norris leads the South African challenge. He had a putt on the final green when the siren sounded for the weather delay. Unfortunately he returned to make bogey, but he isn’t letting that distract him from the challenge of Sunday.
“A delay will always have an impact, but it happens. Overall I’m pleased with the day and where I am. I’m hitting the ball well and putting well. Patience will be key on Sunday. If I can go out there and give myself maybe 15-20 foot chances on every hole I’ve got a good opportunity,” said Norris.
SCORES:
196 - Matteo Manassero 68 61 67
197 - Jordan Smith 66 66 65, Shaun Norris 66 66 65
198 - Angel Hidalgo 67 64 67, Oliver Bekker 65 65 68
199 - Ivan Cantero 64 67 68
200 - Jacques Kruyswijk 66 68 66, Tom McKibbin 67 64 69
201 - Guxin Chen 71 64 66, Connor Syme 68 67 66
202 - Andrea Pavan 68 67 67, Thriston Lawrence 65 70 67, Casey Jarvis 67 66 69
203 - Clement Sordet 69 68 66, Thomas Aiken 69 67 67
204 - Andy Sullivan 70 67 67, JC Ritchie 69 68 67, Matthias Schwab 69 68 67, Paul Waring 67 70 67, Alexander Levy 67 69 68, Ewen Ferguson 70 65 69, Louis de Jager 65 69 70, Jason Scrivener 68 66 70, Niklas Norgaard 67 66 71
205 - Hennie du Plessis 69 70 66, Matthew Baldwin 70 69 66, Julien Guerrier 68 71 66, Lorenzo Scalise 70 67 68, Oliver Wilson 69 68 68, Romain Langasque 67 69 69, Daniel van Tonder 68 68 69, Freddy Schott 71 64 70, Sam Bairstow 67 67 71, Benjamin Follett-Smith 68 66 71, Ugo Coussaud 68 65 72
206 - Jean Hugo 71 69 66, Ashun Wu 70 68 68, Jaco Ahlers 70 66 70, Hurly Long 68 66 72
207 - Aaron Cockerill 69 70 68, Joost Luiten 70 68 69, Ryan Van Velzen 68 70 69, Jovan Rebula 70 68 69, Albert Venter 71 67 69, Nacho Elvira 69 69 69, Santiago Tarrio 67 70 70, Sebastian Friedrichsen 69 68 70, Jeong Weon Ko 68 68 71, Keenan Davidse 64 71 72
208 - Jamie Donaldson 68 71 69, Luca Filippi 72 65 71, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 70 66 72
209 - Matthew Spacey 72 68 69, Daniel Brown 70 70 69, Jordan Gumberg 69 70 70
210 - MJ Viljoen 69 71 70, Kyle McClatchie 69 71 70, Dylan Frittelli 71 68 71, Callum Mowat 70 68 72, Johannes Veerman 68 70 72, Robin Williams 66 70 74, Joel Girrbach 70 66 74
211 - Jesper Svensson 71 69 71, Hennie Otto 72 68 71, Oliver Hundeboll 71 69 71
212 - Will Enefer 69 71 72, Deon Germishuys 72 68 72, Lyle Rowe 68 71 73, Wynand Dingle 70 69 73, Gunner Wiebe 68 70 74, Jaco Van Zyl 69 69 74, Darius van Driel 68 69 75
213 - Karabo Mokoena 69 71 73, Ricardo Gouveia 68 71 74
214 - Rupert Kaminski 75 65 74, Francesco Laporta 72 67 75
216 - JJ Senekal 70 70 76
Missed the cut:-
141 - Dylan Mostert 72 69, Jens Dantorp 72 69, Rafa Cabrera Bello 71 70, Louis Albertse 70 71, Adrien Saddier 71 70, Yurav Premlall 72 69, Marcus Armitage 73 68, CJ du Plessis 72 69, Martin Vorster 72 69, Ross Fisher 72 69, Marco Penge 70 71
142 - Manuel Elvira 74 68, Bjorn Akesson 70 72, David Ravetto 73 69, Wilco Nienaber 75 67, Jacques P de Villiers 73 69, James Nicholas 72 70, Jayden Schaper 71 71, Dan Bradbury 69 73, Pieter Moolman 67 75, Brandon Stone 72 70
143 - Adri Arnaus 70 73, Anton Karlsson 73 70, Peter Karmis 74 69, Jeff Winther 70 73, Tristen Strydom 70 73, Zander Lombard 70 73, Jaco Prinsloo 71 72, Chase Hanna 73 70, Stuart Manley 68 75, Espen Kofstad 74 69
144 - Combrinck Smit 72 72, Darren Fichardt 72 72, Om Prakash Chouhan 72 72, James Mack 73 71, Kyle Barker 71 73, Justin Walters 70 74, David Law 69 75, Ruan Korb 72 72, Merrick Bremner 71 73, James Morrison 71 73, Danie Van Niekerk 71 73, Franklin Manchest 72 72
145 - Jonas Blixt 74 71, Jake Redman 73 72, Todd Clements 71 74, Rikuya Hoshino 70 75, Julien Brun 73 72, Dale Whitnell 73 72
146 - Keith Horne 74 72, Willie Olivier 72 74, Dan Erickson 73 73, Keagan Thomas 72 74, Ruan de Smidt 74 72
147 - Gerhard Pepler 72 75, Nick Bachem 74 73, Malcolm Mitchell 77 70, Ockie Strydom 75 72, Dylan Naidoo 79 68, Rourke van der Spuy 75 72, Hennie O'Kennedy 72 75, Adam Blomme 76 71, Richie Ramsay 77 70, Robson Chinhoi 74 73, Max Rottluff 74 73
148 - Jacques Blaauw 72 76
149 - Neil Schietekat 76 73, Gavin Green 77 72, Trevor Fisher Jnr 73 76, Herman Loubser 74 75, Jastice Mashego 76 73
150 - Martin Rohwer 76 74, Anthony Michael 73 77, Soren Kjeldsen 75 75
152 - Heinrich Bruiners 74 78
153 - Tristin Galant 72 81, Wade Jacobs 79 74
WDN - Stefan Wears-Taylor 77 WDN, DK Kim 77 WDN