It was almost ‘anti-moving day’ on Saturday in the third round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge as Sergio Garcia emerged from a day of attrition with a lead of two strokes after his 71 at Gary Player Country Club.
The Spaniard has been in front since the first round, and he looked as if he was going to be further in front heading into the final round until untimely bogeys on the 13th and 18th saw his momentum halted, while South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen’s birdie on the 18th put him in touch with the lead.
‘I feel like I played pretty well,’ said Garcia.
‘Again, I put the ball in play nicely throughout the day. Just unfortunately pulled it a little bit on 18. Not an easy tee shot into the wind on the left. But other than that, I felt like I did quite well.
‘Two or three more putts could have rolled in and it would have been a really good round in very tough conditions, and you know, other than that, I felt like I managed my game quite nicely and shooting under par, it’s always a good thing.’
He started his round with birdies on the 2nd and 3rd, and with home favourite Oosthuizen seeming ill at ease with his game on the day and making pars all the way until he dropped a shot on the 7th, his lead looked secure.
The threat to Garcia looked to be coming from further behind, with Belgian Thomas Detry and England’s Ross Fisher making significant moves up the leaderboard.
Detry carded a four-under-par 68 to finish the day in a share of third with two-time champion Lee Westwood and Finn Mikko Korhonen. Fisher’s five-under 67 was the best round of the day, and he goes into the final round in sixth, one ahead of Darren Fichardt.
Garcia, like Westwood, is a two-time champion at Sun City, but he’s not sure that’s significant at all. ‘I don’t think it’s any advantage,’ he said. ‘It’s something that you have in your pocket I guess, but once you’re out there, it’s tough for everyone, and winning here doesn’t mean that it’s easier for you to do it. You know, every tournament is tough and this one is no different.’
Oosthuizen is chasing his first victory at Sun City, and it’s one which is much coveted by every South African. He worked hard to stay in touch after feeling early on that things were not going to be easy for him on the day.
For Garcia, however, it will be more of the same.
‘I know the course is going to be playing tough again,’ he said. ‘I’m going to go out and try to shoot under par like I’ve done all three days. I think I’m going to see if I can shoot below 70 and see if that’s good enough.’
It will be his third title if he does seal the deal and also the third time beating a local hope. Garcia isn’t too worried about losing some of the wonderful support he’s enjoyed in the country over the years.
‘I don’t think so. Everyone knows what the sport is all about. In the same way, if a guy like Louis or Charl beat me in Spain, they wouldn’t get booed so I’m expecting more of the same great support that I’ve always enjoyed. The South African people know their stuff and are great sports fans. There’s a good balance – they cheer hard for their favourites but also cheer for the guys they like and fortunately I’m one of them,’ he added.
Third round leaderboard:
206 – Sergio Garcia 64 71 71
208 – Louis Oosthuizen 69 67 72
209 – Thomas Detry 75 66 68, Lee Westwood 71 69 69, Mikko Korhonen 68 70 71
210 – Ross Fisher 71 72 67
212 – Darren Fichardt 74 67 71
213 – Benjamin Hebert 69 75 69, Dean Burmester 72 71 70, Mike Lorenzo-Vera 68 73 72
214 – Nicolas Colsaerts 75 69 70, Matt Wallace 69 72 73, Shane Lowry 71 69 74
215 – Jason Scrivener 69 76 70, Matthew Fitzpatrick 71 71 73, Andrew Johnston 73 69 73, Branden Grace 70 71 74, Aaron Rai 72 68 75, Dylan Frittelli 73 67 75
216 – Martin Kaymer 76 69 71, Charl Schwartzel 68 78 70, Richard Sterne 77 69 70, Oliver Fisher 75 70 71, Rory McIlroy 72 71 73, Ashun Wu 69 73 74, Andrea Pavan 71 70 75, Haotong Li 71 70 75
217 – Joakim Lagergren 72 74 71, Adrian Otaegui 74 72 71, Andy Sullivan 69 74 74, Joost Luiten 72 75 70, Chris Paisley 72 75 70, Ryan Fox 70 73 74
218 – Pablo Larrazabal 74 70 74, Trevor Immelman 74 73 71, Renato Paratore 72 71 75
219 – Erik van Rooyen 77 69 73, Sam Horsfield 73 72 74, Wade Ormsby 73 74 72, Matthias Schwab 72 71 76, Robert Rock 75 73 71, Julien Guerrier 74 68 77, Jens Dantorp 77 73 69
220 – Lucas Herbert 76 69 75, Lucas Bjerregaard 75 70 75, Brandon Stone 74 71 75, Padraig Harrington 73 73 74, Jordan Smith 79 69 72, Paul Waring 72 76 72, Jorge Campillo 71 78 71, Shubhankar Sharma 74 75 71, George Coetzee 73 79 68
221 – Lee Slattery 74 73 74, Danny Willett 78 71 72, Paul Dunne 78 71 72
222 – Maximilian Kieffer 75 71 76, Nacho Elvira 74 73 75, Kiradech Aphibarnrat 75 74 73, Stephen Gallacher 77 75 70, Thomas Aiken 76 77 69, Hideto Tanihara 74 79 69
223 – Gavin Green 75 70 78, Richard Mcevoy 72 76 75, Alexander Bjork 75 75 73, Matthieu Pavon 78 73 72
224 – Tom Lewis 75 71 78, Tapio Pulkkanen 71 76 77, Thomas Bjorn 76 73 75, Matthew Southgate 80 73 71
229 – Ashley Chesters 78 73 78
231 – Marcus Kinhult 74 74 83
RTD – Alexander Levy – 81 70 RTD
Photo: Gordon Arons/Gallo Images
