Sun City – George Coetzee, just seven days after his memorable Tshwane Open victory on the European Tour, which earned him R2.9m, leads the Investec Cup for men through 54 holes on seven-under-par 209, after a 71 on Saturday which included a bogey-six (his tee-shot found a watery grave) at the par-5 closing hole, where the players look to pick up a birdie.
The 28-year-old, who plays out of Pretoria Country Club, leads by two from Jbe Kruger whose brilliant, tournament-best 65 included five successive birdies from the third hole in an outward loop of 31 strokes.
“I scored better than I played,” confessed Kruger.
Coetzee also dropped a shot at the par-5 11th, where he drove into thick bush and had to take an unplayable lie. He had to get up and down from about 120 metres, thanks to a superb approach, to avoid a double-bogey.
“My short game was decent today, apart from a three-putt at the last, but my driving will need to be sharper in the final round (today). Those two par-5s where I made drops suit my eye, but this game doesn’t always go how you plan it,” added Coetzee, who made nine straight pars on the front nine, and picked up birdies on 10, 13 and 16 on the inward loop.
In spite of a double-bogey six at No 2 and a seven at the par-5 seventh, Charl Schwartzel is third on four-under 212, and still in the hunt.
He shot 70 yesterday and the shoulder injury which nearly had him withdraw from the tournament in Friday’s second round at Millvale appeared not to be worrying him too much.
If Coetzee hangs on to win today, he will earn R163 400 as the Investec Cup champion, but, in addition, he could pick up an additional R3.5m (his share of the R10m Bonus Pool) as winner of the separate, year-long, points-based Chase to the Investec Cup. This is not guaranteed, though.
Jacques Blaauw for instance – his closest challenger – could lift the jackpot with a high finish. He is currently 12th on level par after a 67 yesterday.
There are still several permutations – but Kruger, even if he wins the tournament, will not have enough points to qualify for the R3.5m.
Trevor Fisher, last year’s Cup and Chase champion, looks to be out of the running for the Chase this time as he is on five-over 221.
Meanwhile in Miami, equipped with his first PGA Tour lead in 67 starts, Morgan Hoffmann on Friday played like he wanted to keep it in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Hoffmann made birdies on half of his holes for a 7-under 65, giving him a three-shot lead over Henrik Stenson, Harris English and defending champion Matt Every going into the weekend on soft and defenceless Bay Hill.
Stenson, English and Every each fired rounds of 66.
Rory McIlroy also got into the mix by making five straight birdies on his back nine for a 66, his first sub-70 score in three PGA Tour events this year. He was five shots behind and headed in the right direction in his final start before the Masters.
Hoffmann was at 13-under 131, one short of the 36-hole record at Bay Hill. The cut was at 142, matching the lowest score to make the cut in 27 years at Bay Hill. It was the first time the cut was under par, but only because the tournament changed par to 70 (instead of 72) in 2008.
The 25-year-old from Oklahoma made six birdies on the front nine, including four in a row, and finished with a 6-iron out of the rough and over the water – the ball landed four paces onto the green – for a par that kept him in control. Hoffmann came into the week at No 58 in the “strokes gained” statistic from tee-to-green. He leads the field at Bay Hill.
Stenson, who has finished fourth in his two Florida events, birdied his last four holes for a 30 on the back nine.
He will be play in the penultimate group with English, who is No 52 in the world, outside qualifying for the Masters.
He comes off a top 10 at Innisbrook in which he closed with a 65, which moved him up eight spots in the ranking.
Treading water
McIlroy was treading water on Friday morning until an 18-foot birdie putt on the par-3 second, his 11th hole of the day, got him going. He birdied the next four holes, he lost some momentum at the end with a bogey on No 8 and a scrambling par on his final hole.
“It would be nice to finish the round off a little better,” McIlroy said. “I think each and every day I’m feeling a little more comfortable, especially on the greens.”
Every has only one top 10 since he won at Bay Hill a year ago, and has not finished in the top 25 in his last 17 tournaments. But he is confident he is headed in the right direction with his swing, and it showed for two days. He ran off four straight birdies at the end of his round for a 66 to be at 134.
“I’m excited to play golf because I know I have good stuff coming soon,” Every said. “And I said before, you can lie to yourself. I’ve done it before all the time where I think I can win at the start of weeks. It’s like probably how Rory feels every week.”
McIlroy, playing in Palmer’s tournament for the first time, had dinner with the King on Thursday night after his opening round (and a drug test).
They chatted more about commercial possibilities and old-time golf stories than McIlroy’s bid to win the Masters and complete the career Grand Slam. – Sapa-AP