Syme and Brown tied at the top in SDC Championship

Scotland’s Connor Syme and England’s Daniel Brown will take a two-stroke lead into Sunday’s final round of the SDC Championship at St Francis Links, with Robin Williams leading the lone South African challenge two strokes off the lead.

On another day when the wind made for a few extra conversations between player and caddie, Syme controlled his ball flight superbly as he signed for a third round of 67. Alongside him, Brown went into the round with a three-stroke lead and birdied the first to suggest it was going to be all his day. But two bogeys on the front nine and then a difficult stretch of three bogeys in four holes from the turn brought him back to the field. He fought back with three birdies thereafter for a solid 72. They both lead on 11 under par.

Syme summed up just how difficult the changing winds here are when he said, “It’s like playing a different golf course entirely”.

Yet he managed it superbly as he put himself in a position to finally claim a DP World Tour victory after coming close several times. It was a round in which he also won himself a four-night MSC luxury cruise as part of the Sunshine Tour’s Beat the Pro competition, offering amateurs the chance to see if they can hit it closer to the pros in their group on the par-three 15th. With no amateur able to do so, Syme earned the prize as the closest pro on the hole.

“I putted really nicely today. It’s always tricky in the breeze to judge your pace but I did that well today. It was also all about controlling your ball flight and you’ve got to shape your ball both ways around here. I’m really happy with how I did that today.”

Syme, who finished in the top 20 in this event last year, said he’s under no illusions as to the challenge that awaits on Sunday.

“The conditions are so tricky and there are so many great golfers here that it’s going to be tight until the finish on Sunday. But I was here last year and earmarked it as having another go at it this year. It’s a very similar links challenge to back home in Scotland. I’m taking it as it comes and looking forward to the challenge.”

England’s Andy Sullivan, American James Nicholas and South Africa’s Williams are their nearest challengers on nine under par. Williams had worked himself to within one shot of the lead before a bogey at the last. – Michael Vlismas

SCORES:
205 – Connor Syme 67 71 67, Daniel Brown 66 67 72
207 – Andy Sullivan 70 71 66, James Nicholas 68 69 70, Robin Williams 69 67 71
208 – David Ravetto 70 70 68, Jordan Gumberg 68 69 71
209 – Nick Bachem 67 71 71
210 – Adri Arnaus 73 71 66, Marcus Armitage 71 69 70, Francesco Laporta 68 71 71, Tom McKibbin 69 70 71, Jbe’ Kruger 69 69 72
211 – Ugo Coussaud 68 72 71
212 – Thomas Aiken 71 71 70, Casey Jarvis 71 70 71, Jamie Donaldson 70 71 71
213 – Julien Brun 71 71 71, Haydn Barron 70 72 71, Louis de Jager 70 70 73, Malcolm Mitchell 67 72 74
214 – Thriston Lawrence 72 73 69, Daniel van Tonder 75 69 70, Benjamin Follett-Smith 68 74 72, Gavin Green 70 69 75, Shaun Norris 65 71 78
215 – Manuel Elvira 70 75 70, Adrian Otaegui 70 74 71, Angel Hidalgo 70 72 73, Ockie Strydom 69 72 74, Oliver Bekker 69 72 74
216 – Keagan Thomas 71 74 71, Ewen Ferguson 73 71 72, Matteo Manassero 68 76 72, Anton Karlsson 71 72 73, Keenan Davidse 73 70 73, Lyle Rowe 69 73 74, Ivan Cantero 71 71 74, Nikhil Rama 70 72 74
217 – Clement Sordet 71 74 72, Nacho Elvira 69 76 72, Adrien Saddier 74 70 73, Wilco Nienaber 67 76 74, Ryan Van Velzen 71 72 74, Jeff Winther 71 72 74, Rikuya Hoshino 71 71 75, Jack Hawksby 71 70 76
218 – Sebastian Friedrichsen 71 74 73, Dylan Mostert 71 74 73, Hennie Otto 70 74 74, Lorenzo Scalise 69 75 74
219 – Richie Ramsay 72 72 75, Matthew Baldwin 70 72 77, Keith Horne 70 70 79
220 – Rupert Kaminski 69 76 75, Jake Redman 71 74 75, Dylan Frittelli 72 72 76, Ruan Korb 74 70 76, Espen Kofstad 71 72 77
221 – Anthony Michael 70 75 76, Matthias Schwab 70 73 78
222 – Jayden Schaper 68 77 77, James Morrison 72 72 78
223 – Oliver Wilson 73 71 79
225 – Stefan Wears-Taylor 69 75 81
Missed the cut:-
146 – CJ du Plessis 72 74, Antoine Rozner 73 73, Jaco Ahlers 73 73, Samuel Jones 74 72, Albert Venter 69 77, Brandon Stone 73 73, Sam Bairstow 74 72, Ashun Wu 73 73, Trevor Fisher Jnr 75 71, Pieter Moolman 65 81
147 – Peter Karmis 74 73, Hennie O’Kennedy 72 75, Jordan Smith 74 73, Heinrich Bruiners 75 72, JJ Senekal 76 71, Jeong Weon Ko 73 74, Martin Vorster 73 74, Kyle De Beer 74 73, Aneurin Gounden 73 74, JC Ritchie 71 76
148 – Tom Lewis 75 73, Todd Clements 75 73, Freddy Schott 74 74, Santiago Tarrio 72 76, Julien Guerrier 76 72, Stuart Manley 72 76, Joel Girrbach 74 74
149 – Wynand Dingle 76 73, Jaco Prinsloo 77 72, Robson Chinhoi 75 74, Fredrik From 75 74, Yurav Premlall 76 73, Matthis Besard 75 74, Neil Schietekat 79 70, Will Enefer 75 74, Hennie du Plessis 75 74, Darren Fichardt 79 70, Jacques Blaauw 74 75, Jason Scrivener 74 75, Benjamin Rusch 74 75, Louis Albertse 73 76, Jacques P de Villiers 75 74
150 – Toto Thimba Jnr 74 76, Dylan Naidoo 75 75, Jean Hugo 74 76, Oliver Hundeboll 73 77, Max Rottluff 75 75, Jaco Van Zyl 73 77, Dan Erickson 73 77, Sean Bradley 72 78
151 – Keegan Mclachlan 74 77, Reinhardt Blaauw 76 75, Justin Walters 75 76, Rourke van der Spuy 75 76, Soren Kjeldsen 76 75, Chase Hanna 72 79, Marco Penge 71 80, Karabo Mokoena 78 73
152 – Ross Fisher 77 75, Hurly Long 74 78, Zander Lombard 77 75, Keita Nakajima 80 72, Deon Germishuys 73 79, MJ Viljoen 72 80, Om Prakash Chouhan 74 78
153 – Kyle Barker 79 74, James Hart du Preez 76 77, Romain Langasque 74 79, Guxin Chen 75 78, Gunner Wiebe 74 79, Jonas Blixt 75 78, Tom Vaillant 75 78, Garrick Porteous 76 77, Tristen Strydom 74 79
154 – Pierre Pellegrin 76 78, Bjorn Akesson 74 80, Ricardo Gouveia 72 82, Luca Filippi 76 78
155 – Jovan Rebula 77 78, Andrea Pavan 73 82, Jacquin Hess 75 80
156 – Herman Loubser 76 80, David Law 77 79, Martin Rohwer 78 78
157 – Combrinck Smit 76 81, Joost Luiten 78 79, Niklas Norgaard 74 83
158 – Gerhard Pepler 80 78
159 – Tristin Galant 74 85, Richie O’Donovan 79 80
160 – Sebastian Garcia 81 79