Kieran Vincent holed a putt for eagle after driving the green on the par-four 15th hole and then birdied two of the last three holes to grab a share of the lead after the third round of the KitKat Cash & Carry Pro-Am at Irene Country Club on Saturday.
Vincent’s brilliant finish saw him come home in six-under-par 30 on the back nine, lifting him to a 67 in the penultimate round, and 15-under-par overall, tied for the lead with James Mack, who could only shoot level-par 72 on Saturday.
Vincent was in a tie for third going into the weekend, fully five strokes behind Mack, and a double-bogey at the par-four third hole and a bogey at the par-three seventh saw the Zimbabwean reach the turn on one-over-par and seemingly left with a mountain to climb to catch Mack.
But the 26-year-old Vincent birdied the par-four 11th and 14th holes, before his stunning drive on the 308m 15th set up the eagle that catapulted him up the leaderboard.
Dropped shots on the 12th, 14th and 16th holes were the pivot for Mack being caught by Vincent, but the 25-year-old England-based South African still managed to shoot level-par in the end thanks to a birdie-birdie finish, having earlier picked up shots on the 11th and 15th holes.
KZN’s Martin Rohwer was in second place after the first two rounds, but he slipped back into a tie for third on Saturday after a one-over-par round of 73 left him on 12-under, alongside Englishman Joe Long (67) and Portugal’s Stephen Ferreira (69).
Another KZN golfer, Malcolm Mitchell, surged up the leaderboard on Saturday with a seven-under 65 lifting him to 11-under-par, sharing sixth place with fellow South Africans Stefan Wears-Taylor (68), Jacques Blaauw (69) and Rupert Kaminski (71).
SCORES:
201 - Kieran Vincent 67 67 67, James Mack 67 62 72
204 - Joe Long 67 70 67, Stephen Ferreira 67 68 69, Martin Rohwer 66 65 73
205 - Malcolm Mitchell 73 67 65, Stefan Wears-Taylor 66 71 68, Jacques Blaauw 69 67 69, Rupert Kaminski 68 66 71
206 - Travis Ladner 72 69 65, Jonathan Broomhead 68 69 69, CJ du Plessis 73 66 67, Gerhard Pepler 65 75 66
207 - Ricky Hendler 73 67 67, Hennie O'Kennedy 70 68 69, Wynand Dingle 68 68 71, Danie Van Niekerk 68 68 71, Martin Vorster 69 67 71, MJ Viljoen 69 67 71
208 - Kyle Barker 68 72 68, JC Ritchie 71 67 70, Jean-Paul Strydom 69 69 70, Luke Jerling 68 70 70, Ruan Korb 70 69 69, Nikhil Rama 70 69 69
209 - Herman Loubser 74 68 67, Irvin Mazibuko 68 73 68, Otto Van Buynder 69 69 71, Christian Kriek 73 65 71, Keenan Davidse 68 68 73, Yurav Premlall 72 67 70, Sean Bradley 69 70 70
210 - Fredrik From 69 74 67, Michael Hollick 72 70 68, Werner Deyzel 73 68 69, JJ Senekal 69 68 73, Luca Filippi 71 67 72, Callum Mowat 70 69 71
211 - Thabiso Ngcobo 71 69 71, Keagan Thomas 68 69 74, Ethan Smith 73 66 72
212 - Ruan de Smidt 69 72 71, Heinrich Bruiners 70 70 72, Jovan Rebula 72 70 70, Stuart Krog 69 71 72, DK Kim 72 71 69
213 - Jack Hawksby 68 75 70, Hennie Otto 70 73 70, Neil Schietekat 73 69 71, Estiaan Conradie 70 72 71, LB Boshoff 70 67 76
214 - Keegan Mclachlan 70 72 72, Jake Redman 73 69 72, Ruan Groenewald 72 71 71
215 - Gregory Mckay 72 69 74
216 - Rhys West 73 69 74, Rourke van der Spuy 72 70 74, Dylan O'Leary 73 70 73, Lyle Rowe 72 71 73
217 - Jason Roets 69 73 75, Haydn Porteous 70 71 76
218 - Jacques P de Villiers 70 73 75, Jaco Van Zyl 69 73 76
221 - Luke Brown 70 73 78, Combrinck Smit 75 68 78
Missed the cut:
144 - Conner Mackenzie 73 71, Jared Harvey 74 70, Daniel van Tonder 72 72, Gerard du Plooy 70 74, Quintin Wilsnach 75 69, Jacob Oakley 69 75, Trevor Mahoney 73 71, Doug McGuigan 71 73, Christiaan Basson 70 74
145 - Thanda Mavundla 67 78, Dayne Moore 74 71, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 76 69, Pierre Pellegrin 71 74, Adam Breen 72 73, Robson Chinhoi 73 72, Jean Hugo 72 73, Leon Vorster 65 80, Matthew Spacey 71 74, Steven Le Roux 73 72, Anthony Michael 73 72
146 - Nick Cunningham 75 71
147 - Thabang Simon 76 71, Jbe Kruger 73 74, Kyle De Beer 71 76, Kayle Wykes 73 74, Samuel Simpson 73 74, Tristin Galant 75 72
148 - Allister de Kock 71 77, Sentanio Minnie 73 75, Stals Swart 77 71
149 - Hayden Griffiths 74 75, Jabulane Mabilane 74 75, Austin Bautista 77 72, Merrick Bremner 76 73
150 - Keelan van Wyk 76 74, Dylan Mostert 76 74, Jastice Mashego 74 76, Teboho Sefatsa 74 76, James Kamte 78 72
151 - Andre De Decker 74 77, Sipho Bujela 75 76
152 - Makhetha Mazibuko 74 78, Madalitso Muthiya 73 79, Toto Thimba Jnr 74 78, Ruan Conradie 79 73
154 - Jacquin Hess 74 80, Franklin Manchest 80 74
155 - Slenda Sithebe 80 75
156 - CJ Levey 83 73, Mike Maile 77 79
157 - Jordan Duminy 82 75
158 - Tumelo Molloyi 80 78
159 - Lyle Pedro 85 74
163 - Umar Davids 79 84
RTD - Christiaan Burke 77 RTD RTD