Knappe leads into final round of Jonsson Workwear Open

On a day of rain and delayed tee times, having no strategy proved to be the best strategy for Germany’s Alexander Knappe as he claimed the lead in the Jonsson Workwear Open headed into Sunday’s final round at The Club at Steyn City.

When the third round finally teed off at 11am, Knappe decided to just see where his golf takes him on a difficult day. The result was a solid 65 for a one-stroke lead on 17 under par.

“I had no strategy to be honest. I just played golf and waited to see how it ended up. No strategy,” he said. “It was great work. I made one bogey out there but I am only human so I can’t be too hard on myself. There was no roll on the fairways but you could go for every pin because it was so soft.”

Knappe has won before in South Africa in last year’s Dimension Data Pro-Am, which was co-sanctioned with the European Challenge Tour. But Sunday’s final round will be a new experience for him at DP World Tour level. “It’s my first time leading a big event. I’ll see how I prepare for that mentally. But I’m just enjoying that feeling right now.”

South Africa’s Hennie du Plessis, Swede Joakim Lagergren, Malaysia’s Gavin Green and Germany’s Nick Bachem are his nearest challengers on 16 under par.

Lagergren stormed through the field with an incredible 63 that was made even more remarkable by the fact that he never dropped a single shot in the wet conditions.

“I played really well today, especially my iron shots. It was a different course today and played longer because it was so wet. But I kept the bogeys off the card. It’s been a while since I’ve been bogey free,” he said.

South African Du Plessis also managed to go bogey free during his round of 65 and is delighted to be in contention going into the final round.

“When you’re in the mix it’s always a fun feeling. I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “It was hard work today. With all the delays this morning I knew we’d have to be patient out there. It’s so wet so you had to hit fairways and quality iron shots. The pins were also tucked away a little bit.”

But this golf course does set up well for Du Plessis, and he’s looking to take even more advantage of that in the final round.

“I enjoy this layout. The wide fairways and slopey greens are nice to play. Standing up there and hitting a good drive is great, and then when you’re a good mid-iron player it’s a fun course to play.” – Michael Vlismas

Scores:
199 – Alexander Knappe 68 66 65
200 – Joakim Lagergren 65 72 63, Hennie du Plessis 69 66 65, Gavin Green 66 67 67, Nick Bachem 65 66 69
201 – Ewen Ferguson 66 69 66, Martin Vorster 64 69 68, Romain Langasque 68 64 69
202 – Ockie Strydom 69 64 69
203 – Zander Lombard 68 69 66, Sebastian Soderberg 65 69 69, Hennie O’Kennedy 65 69 69, Marcel Schneider 68 65 70, Julien Brun 67 66 70
204 – Martin Simonsen 66 71 67, Daniel Brown 69 68 67, Jacques Kruyswijk 68 68 68, Wilco Nienaber 67 69 68, Louis Albertse 69 66 69, Sami Valimaki 67 65 72
205 – Mikko Korhonen 67 70 68, Keenan Davidse 69 68 68, Ross Fisher 69 67 69, Julien Guerrier 70 66 69, Mikael Lindberg 69 67 69, Hurly Long 67 71 67, Matthieu Pavon 74 65 66, Kalle Samooja 68 65 72
206 – Benjamin Follett-Smith 67 70 69, Wynand Dingle 68 69 69, Jamie Donaldson 68 69 69, Jbe’ Kruger 68 68 70, Matthew Baldwin 68 68 70, Kristian Krogh Johannessen 70 68 68, Jayden Schaper 66 69 71, Joost Luiten 67 68 71, Alejandro Del Rey 72 67 67
207 – Oliver Hundeboll 68 69 70, Jordan Smith 69 69 69, Paul Waring 67 71 69, Andy Sullivan 67 71 69, Lyle Rowe 70 68 69, Justin Walters 69 67 71, Daniel van Tonder 67 69 71, Aaron Cockerill 66 69 72, Robin Sciot-Siegrist 68 70 69, James Hart du Preez 69 70 68
208 – Niklas Norgaard 66 70 72, Clement Sordet 69 69 70
209 – Oliver Wilson 68 69 72, MJ Viljoen 69 69 71, Stefan Wears-Taylor 68 70 71, Joshua Lee 68 67 74, Connor Syme 70 69 70, Jaco Van Zyl 71 68 70, John Catlin 69 70 70, Merrick Bremner 69 70 70, Jens Dantorp 73 66 70
210 – Neil Schietekat 69 68 73, George Coetzee 66 72 72, Jaco Prinsloo 71 67 72, Dylan Mostert 69 66 75, Deon Germishuys 73 66 71, Martin Rohwer 69 70 71, Shaun Norris 71 68 71, Bradley Bawden 69 70 71
211 – Darren Fichardt 64 72 75, Thriston Lawrence 68 68 75, Thomas Aiken 72 66 73, Nicolai Von Dellingshausen 67 72 72
212 – Louis de Jager 69 68 75, Ma Chengyao 70 68 74, Sam Hutsby 69 69 74, Calum Hill 66 72 74, Philip Eriksson 69 70 73, Trevor Fisher Jnr 67 72 73
213 – Tom McKibbin 68 70 75
220 – Daniel Gavins 67 72 81
Missed the cut:-
140 – Pieter Moolman 71 69, Daan Huizing 71 69, Luke Jerling 70 70, Kyle Barker 68 72, Luca Filippi 70 70, Adam Breen 68 72, Adrian Otaegui 72 68, Ruan Korb 69 71, Gunner Wiebe 73 67, Matthew Southgate 71 69, Yeongsu Kim 68 72, Simon Forsstrom 69 71, Pedro Figueiredo 69 71
141 – Adri Arnaus 73 68, Anton Karlsson 70 71, JJ Senekal 69 72, David Ravetto 70 71, Jacques Blaauw 72 69, Jeff Winther 71 70, Todd Clements 70 71, Jeong Weon Ko 68 73, Albert Venter 70 71, Rafa Cabrera Bello 69 72, Jaco Ahlers 74 67, Estiaan Conradie 72 69, David Law 71 70, Tristen Strydom 70 71, CJ du Plessis 72 69, Heinrich Bruiners 69 72
142 – Lukas Nemecz 70 72, Hennie Otto 71 71, Dan Bradbury 75 67, Casey Jarvis 72 70, Bryce Easton 71 71, Jake Redman 68 74, Jeremy Freiburghaus 70 72, Brandon Stone 70 72, Freddy Schott 73 69, Jacques P de Villiers 71 71
143 – Oliver Bekker 69 74, Jean Hugo 75 68, Michael Palmer 71 72, Stephen Ferreira 71 72, Anthony Michael 72 71, Ruan Conradie 71 72, Wil Besseling 71 72, Siyanda Mwandla 73 70, Rupert Kaminski 70 73, Nacho Elvira 72 71, Rourke van der Spuy 69 74, Jason Smith 72 71
144 – Dale Whitnell 73 71, Luke Brown 69 75, Tapio Pulkkanen 71 73, Combrinck Smit 73 71, John Parry 72 72
145 – Justin Harding 73 72, Dylan Naidoo 71 74
146 – Herman Loubser 72 74, Joel Stalter 71 75, JC Ritchie 73 73, Mateusz Gradecki 74 72, Tobias Eden 75 71
147 – John Axelsen 73 74, Alexander Levy 77 70
148 – Manu Gandas 75 73
149 – Musiwalo Nethunzwi 72 77, Makhetha Mazibuko 77 72, Callum Mowat 75 74
150 – Franklin Manchest 76 74, Paul Boshoff 75 75
152 – Alex Haindl 78 74, James Pennington 78 74, Adriel Poonan 77 75
153 – Evance Vukeya 78 75
155 – Therion Nel 81 74
156 – Thanda Mavundla 76 80
160 – Tristin Galant 83 77