Although Louis Albertse’s five-under-par 67 was not faultless golf, the 26-year-old showed perfect composure as he maintained his four-shot lead after the third and penultimate round of the Kit Kat Cash and Carry Pro-Am at Irene Country Club on Saturday.
Albertse will go into Sunday’s final round with a brilliant score of 19-under-par, following rounds of 66-64-67, a very handy lead with half-a-dozen golfers within six shots of him.
Albertse took a while to get going on Saturday and a bogey on the par-four fifth hole left him one-over for the round. But birdies on the sixth and eighth holes brought some momentum, and he then produced a brilliant back nine of four-under 32.
The Dundee Golf Club representative made some mistakes coming in, but showed a tremendous ability to recover quickly from his mistakes. Twice he made birdies after poor shots left him out of position, courtesy of a wonderful wedge on the par-five 10thand a phenomenal 45ft putt across the green on the par-three 16th.
“I had a bit of nerves at the start, I’m not going to lie, and I didn’t hit good drives on the first two holes,” Albertse said. “I was glad I got through those with birdies on six and eight, and then birdies on 10 and 11 made me feel even better. That settled me and I had a good round going.
“I just tried to stay composed. Acceptance in this game plays a really big part in success and the quicker you can accept mistakes, the easier it is. I just tried to forget about the previous shot.
“I’m sure there will be a lot of nerves in the final round and things might feel different. But that’s why we practise all these years, to be in this position. I’m just going to try and enjoy it as much as I can, and at 19-under-par there’s no reason to change anything in my game,” Albertse said.
Although the man who enjoyed seven top-10 finishes last season will be the favourite to win the R320 000 first prize on Sunday, it is by no means a done deal with several other golfers playing marvellous golf on Saturday to put themselves in the picture.
Malcolm Mitchell produced a magnificent back nine of 31 as his 66 lifted him into second place on 15-under. The lanky KwaZulu-Natalian chipped in for eagle on the 10th hole and finished his round with three consecutive birdies.
Kyle Barker also chipped in from off the green for an eagle on the par-four 15th and then finished birdie-birdie to post a 68 that left him in third place on 14-under.
A resurgent Trevor Fisher Jnr is on 13-under after cruising to a 66, alongside youngsters Jovan Rebula (68) and Adam Breen (64).
SCORES:
197 – Louis Albertse 66 64 67
201 – Malcolm Mitchell 68 67 66
202 – Kyle Barker 70 64 68
203 – Trevor Fisher Jnr 67 70 66, Jovan Rebula 65 70 68, Adam Breen 72 67 64
204 – Stefan Wears-Taylor 68 67 69
205 – Robin Williams 69 68 68, Martin Rohwer 68 67 70, Wynand Dingle 65 69 71
206 – Dan Erickson 71 67 68, Jacques Kruyswijk 69 70 67
207 – Keegan Mclachlan 72 70 65, Ruan Korb 73 64 70, Sean Cronje 69 68 70, Merrick Bremner 72 67 68
208 – Ruan Conradie 70 67 71, Estiaan Conradie 69 67 72, Hennie O’Kennedy 74 66 68, James Mack 71 69 68
209 – Luca Filippi 72 69 68, Dylan Naidoo 72 69 68, Luke Jerling 75 66 68, Jacques Blaauw 71 68 70, Yurav Premlall 69 65 75
210 – Anthony Michael 75 67 68, Jack Hawksby 66 76 68, Matthew Spacey 71 71 68, Jason Smith 75 67 68, Darren Fichardt 68 70 72, Keagan Thomas 69 72 69, Callum Mowat 68 72 70
211 – DK Kim 72 72 67, Rupert Kaminski 74 68 69, Franklin Manchest 72 70 69, Ulrich van den Berg 73 70 68, Jaco Van Zyl 71 71 69
212 – Jared Harvey 73 69 70, Jonathan Broomhead 74 69 69, CJ du Plessis 72 71 69, Steve Surry 71 70 71, Christiaan Basson 69 71 72, Neil Schietekat 67 72 73
213 – Jean Hugo 73 69 71, Toto Thimba Jnr 72 72 69, Michael Hollick 74 70 69, Sean Bradley 70 73 70, Hennie Otto 74 69 70, Heinrich Bruiners 69 72 72, Quintin Wilsnach 73 68 72, Madalitso Muthiya 71 70 72
214 – Lyle Rowe 75 68 71, Nikhil Rama 72 70 72, Richard Joubert 75 68 71, Chris Cannon 74 69 71
215 – Ryan Van Velzen 72 71 72
217 – Gerhard Trytsman 72 72 73, Reinhardt Blaauw 72 72 73
218 – Jacques P de Villiers 73 71 74, Robson Chinhoi 76 67 75, Vaughn van Deventer 71 71 76, Danie Van Niekerk 73 69 76, Luke Brown 75 67 76
222 – Clancy Waugh 68 76 78
Missed the cut:-
145 – Leon Visser 72 73, Combrinck Smit 74 71, Peter Karmis 72 73, Brandon Smith 74 71, Allister de Kock 72 73, MJ Viljoen 73 72
146 – Doug McGuigan 74 72, Tyron Davidowitz 73 73, Jason Roets 74 72, Conner Mackenzie 76 70, Rhys West 72 74, Albert Venter 75 71, Nicholaus Frade 79 67
147 – Adriel Poonan 77 70, Keelan Africa 74 73, David Wicks 73 74, Hunter Epson 77 70, Jacquin Hess 75 72, Gregory Mckay 74 73
148 – Marcel Steyn Scholtz 76 72, Ethan Smith 75 73, Sentanio Minnie 78 70, Siyanda Mwandla 73 75, Thabang Simon 75 73, Michael Kok 76 72, Omar Sandys 74 74
149 – Erhard Lambrechts 73 76, Ryan Tipping 75 74, Ruan de Smidt 75 74, Riekus Nortje 76 73, Wade Jacobs 73 76, Kyle McClatchie 75 74
150 – Christiaan Burke 73 77, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 75 75, Ricky Hendler 74 76, Keelan van Wyk 75 75
151 – Karabo Mokoena 73 78, Tristin Galant 80 71, Alex Haindl 73 78, Fredrik From 76 75
152 – Aneurin Gounden 76 76, Teboho Sefatsa 78 74, Slenda Sithebe 77 75, Travis Ladner 78 74, Herman Loubser 78 74
153 – Lindani Ndwandwe 75 78, Evance Vukeya 78 75, Hayden Griffiths 74 79, Gerhard Pepler 78 75, Jake Redman 78 75, Stuart Krog 79 74
154 – Jonathan Waschefort 81 73, LB Boshoff 81 73, Fezekile Kana 80 74, Gerard Moodley 77 77
155 – Sipho Bujela 77 78
156 – Drikus Joubert 72 84
157 – Ben Firth 80 77
158 – Jastice Mashego 83 75, Umar Davids 82 76
160 – Irvin Mazibuko 81 79
163 – Alphius Kelapile 88 75
Photo by Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour
