– Marcus Kinhult (-14) heads into the final round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship as the main contender for the final victory after carding a 69 in the third round at Leopard Creek, maintaining his lead with a two-shot advantage over his closest pursuer, young South African Ryan Van Velzen (-12). According to the DP World Tour, since 2010, the tournament has always been won by the leader who started Sunday with a two or more shot lead, so recent history strongly supports the Swede’s candidacy. Just in case, let’s not take anything for granted.
– Ángel Ayora (-10) has also positioned himself as an alternative for victory after carding the best result of the day, a scorecard of 65 strokes, seven under par, which was only matched by the surprising Van Velzen, ranked 412th in the world and another product of the prolific South African academy, who already boasts two wins on the Sunshine Tour despite his youth (he is 23 years old) and who entered the tournament this week through the national ranking.
But before delving into details with the Spaniard, let’s issue a warning: Dean Burmester (-10) had a tough day today, with very inconsistent play, but managed to play under par (a scorecard of 70 strokes) and right now he must be considered one of the main threats to the leader, if not the main one.
– Sometimes, a player cannot find a clear and simple explanation for the final result in a round of golf, whether it was good or bad. This is not the case for Ayora, at least in these first 54 holes. He explained to Tengolf, with crystal clarity, the main reason why he managed to score so low today. “On Thursday and Friday, I didn’t hit the ball well at all, but the putt saved me. Today, I leave the course very happy because I was able to find some solutions in the tee-to-green game, at least to put the ball in the fairway. And on this course, if you hit well from the tee and then hit decently with the irons, you can leave yourself many opportunities. That’s what happened today, and since I kept putting very well, that’s the reason for that 65.”
Then, of course, many more things happen in a round. There are moments and moments. Today, for example, despite the improvement, the Andalusian had to overcome a bad moment, the double bogey on the 5th hole, and he did so with absolute composure. Ángel is usually good at resetting when necessary, a virtue he must cherish and guard like gold.
– And if we talk about resets and good attitude, we must also mention Joel Moscatel (-4) today. The Catalan started the day very well positioned after Friday’s 66, but went through a small hell on the first nine holes of the South African course, a stretch he completed five over par, which distanced him from any juicy objective and, worse, left him on the brink with much to play for, because on this course, if you let yourself go or rush too much, you end up taking hit after hit. Just ask Adrián Otaegui or Ockie Stridom today, both with scorecards of 78 strokes. Moscatel managed to recover and fix much of the damage with a three-under-par score on the second nine. And tomorrow will be another day.
– Jorge Campillo (-2) won the battle against the course today, but couldn’t advance too many positions, while Manu Elvira (-3) signed a par round, and Nacho Elvira (-1) ended up with a hefty score of 76 strokes, with only one birdie on the card. As mentioned, at Leopard Creek, nothing should ever be taken for granted, neither for good nor bad.
– Finally, note the very strange round of the King, Charl Schwartzel (-5), who threw away all the options he might have had to win the tournament for the fifth time with a +7 score on the first eight holes, but finished the round with five birdies on the last six holes. Neither he nor Louis Oosthuizen, who didn’t even make the cut yesterday, will be decisive factors on Sunday.
