CAPE TOWN – Jean-Paul Strydom returned to the summit of the leaderboard in round three of the RAM Cape Town Open after he signed for a three-under 69 to total 13-under-par and take a slender one-stroke lead into the final round at Royal Cape.
On a day when the wind picked up quite early on, it was always going to be a laborious effort to shoot a low score at the wind-ravaged Royal Cape.
The struggle was obvious from the first glance as Strydom’s only birdies of the front nine – on the second and fifth holes – were quickly undone by the same number of bogeys on the third and ninth holes.
He seemed to have found something on the homeward stretch as he went birdie-eagle-par from the 10th through to the 12th hole, before picking up another birdie on 13. Back-to-back bogeys, thereafter, threatened to derail his round but he bounced back solidly, making further gains on the 16th before closing his round with pars on the 17th and the last holes.
“It wasn’t easy out there,” Strydom noted, “I mean, the wind; we knew it was going to blow today and probably tomorrow as well. But the game plan is to just keep it in play, hit the greens and hopefully, make a couple of putts.
“It’s a tough downwind, tough to try and stop the ball on the greens and stuff like that, but it was good. But it’s unbelievable to be leading with one round to go. I just hope I can finish the job because I have been in this situation before so I hope to take that experience to tomorrow.”
Zander Lombard lurks dangerously behind him, though, with just a single stroke separating the two players. Lombard also carded a 69 while the overnight leader, Peter Karmis, Zambia’s Madalitso Muthiya and Thriston Lawrence share the third spot on 10-under-par for the tournament.
Michael Palmer and Andrew Curlewis occupy the sixth spot on a total of nine-under with England’s Ross McGowan, 2017 champion Jacques Kruyswijk, Lyle Rowe, Daniel van Tonder, Justin Walters and Richard Bland share the eighth spot.
If the weather persists tomorrow, we are guaranteed an exciting finish to this, the seventh edition of the RAM Cape Town Open at Royal Cape.
Scores, after 3 rounds:
203 - Jean-Paul Strydom 62 72 69
204 - Zander Lombard 68 67 69
206 - Madalitso Muthiya 67 69 70, Thriston Lawrence 66 68 72, Peter Karmis 63 66 77
207 - Michael Palmer 68 70 69, Andrew Curlewis 67 64 76
208 - Ross McGowan 68 72 68, Jacques Kruyswijk 67 72 69, Lyle Rowe 67 71 70, Daniel van Tonder 66 70 72, Justin Walters 66 69 73, Richard Bland 66 69 73
209 - Herman Loubser 71 71 67, Jaco Ahlers 70 71 68, Jack Harrison 71 70 68, Ockie Strydom 69 70 70, Benjamin Follett-Smith 68 69 72, MJ Viljoen 66 70 73, Adilson Da Silva 71 63 75
210 - Keith Horne 69 71 70, Daniel Greene 67 71 72, Ruan Conradie 67 71 72
211 - Neil Schietekat 70 72 69, Wallie Coetsee 69 73 69, Anthony Michael 71 71 69, Victor Lange 71 70 70, David McIntyre 71 69 71, Stephen Ferreira 69 70 72, Christiaan Basson 69 70 72, Heinrich Bruiners 68 70 73, JC Ritchie 66 72 73, Vaughn Groenewald 67 71 73, Jbe' Kruger 69 67 75, Hennie Otto 71 64 76
212 - Luke Joy 72 70 70, Luke Jerling 72 69 71, Martin Rohwer 74 67 71, Keenan Davidse 72 69 71, Doug McGuigan 68 72 72, Tyrone Ryan 70 70 72, Jacques Blaauw 68 72 72
213 - Harry Ellis 69 71 73, Damon Stephenson 67 72 74, JJ Senekal 67 71 75, Wynand Dingle 67 70 76, Jacques P de Villiers 73 64 76, Scott Campbell 67 70 76
214 - Jason Viljoen 68 74 72, Jacquin Hess 71 70 73, Teboho Sefatsa 69 70 75, Dawie Van der Walt 71 67 76
215 - Trevor Fisher Jnr 69 71 75, Garth Mulroy 72 68 75, Estiaan Conradie 68 71 76, Kyle McClatchie 65 72 78
216 - Bennie van der Merwe 69 73 74, Rhys West 70 72 74, Rhys Enoch 67 73 76, Tyler Hogarty 67 72 77, Michael Hollick 68 71 77
217 - Andrew van der Knaap 71 71 75, Matias Calderon 67 75 75
218 - Mitch Waite 68 72 78
219 - Philip Geerts 70 72 77, Allister de Kock 70 72 77, Anton Haig 71 70 78, Jake Roos 71 70 78
220 - Ian Ansett 70 72 78, Pieter Moolman 70 71 79
Missed the cut:-
143 - Andrew Odoh 68 75, Breyten Meyer 72 71, Matthew Rushton 74 69, Basil Wright 72 71, Marthin Scheepers 70 73, Jonathan Agren 73 70, Ruan de Smidt 70 73, Toby Tree 71 72, Jade Buitendag 74 69
144 - Gideon van der Vyver 73 71, Ryan Tipping 71 73, Jean Hugo 72 72, Chris Swanepoel 72 72, Neil O'Briain 75 69, Roberto Lupini 73 71, Sean Bradley 75 69, Teaghan Gauche 72 72, Jaco Prinsloo 69 75, Derick Petersen 72 72, Hennie du Plessis 67 77, Mark Williams 74 70, James Pennington 71 73
145 - Makhetha Mazibuko 72 73, Erhard Lambrechts 76 69, Chris Cannon 73 72, Steve Surry 71 74, Franklin Manchest 69 76, Altaaf Bux 72 73, Aubrey Beckley 75 70, Kyle Pilgrim 72 73, Rourke van der Spuy 72 73, Ulrich van den Berg 72 73
146 - Desne Van Den Bergh 73 73, Thabang Simon 75 71, Jared Harvey 73 73, Bryce Easton 73 73, Colin Nel 76 70, Tyrone Ferreira 73 73, Fredrik From 73 73, Irvin Mazibuko 70 76
147 - Gerrit Foster 74 73, Yubin Jung 74 73, Andre De Decker 77 70, Louis Albertse 75 72, Lindani Ndwandwe 73 74, Mike Michell 72 75, Fezekile Kana 74 73, Callum Mowat 70 77, Riekus Nortje 73 74, Philip Eriksson 75 72, CJ du Plessis 77 70
148 - Gregg Upton 76 72
149 - Jason Smith 72 77, Theunis Bezuidenhout 75 74, Merrick Bremner 76 73, Allan Versfeld 72 77, Clancy Waugh 74 75, Coert Groenewald 73 76, Jake Redman 74 75, Andre Nel 74 75, Ruan Huysamen 72 77
150 - Luke Trocado 77 73, Wayne Stroebel 73 77, Jason Froneman 74 76, Michiel Bothma 74 76, Phumlani Maluka 72 78, Duane Keun 70 80, Titch Moore 75 75, Matthew Carvell 74 76, Ryan Cairns 76 74
151 - James Kamte 75 76, Keelan Africa 70 81
153 - Robson Chinhoi 75 78, Michael Schutz 75 78, Alan Michell 75 78
154 - Mervyn Galant 76 78, Stefan Engell Andersen 80 74, Toto Thimba 76 78, Mark Murless 77 77
155 - Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 72 83
156 - Neil Whitehorn 79 77
157 - Jaco Theron 76 81, JC Coetzer 79 78
160 - Sevey Links 78 82
165 - Ben Fouchee 83 82
RTD - Alex Haindl RTD RTD