If Robin Williams was apprehensive about going into the weekend sharing the lead in just his 16th Sunshine Tour event then he certainly did not show it as he fired a superb 68 to stretch his lead to four shots after the third round of the Fortress Invitational at the Glendower Golf Club on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Williams collected six birdies and dropped just two shots on a blistering day in eastern Johannesburg, moving to 15-under-par as he goes into Sunday’s final round four strokes clear of Michael Hollick (70) on 11-under.
Williams started his third round in solid fashion with a couple of pars and then grabbed his first birdie on the par-four third hole, followed by another on the par-three fifth. The UK-based golfer did drop a shot, however, on the next par-three, the eighth, but it proved nothing to worry about as Williams immediately birdied the ninth and 10th holes.
His ability to bounce back from mistakes was shown again as he bogeyed the par-five 11th but notched a two at the par-three 12th. And the next par-five, the penultimate hole on the 6894-metre course, Williams birdied to further stretch his lead.
Heinrich Bruiners shared the lead with Williams after the second round and he seemed to be building a strong position for himself on Saturday when he followed six straight pars with birdies at the seventh and eighth holes.
But it then all rather unravelled for Bruiners as he bogeyed the par-four ninth and the par-five 11th, followed by a triple-bogey at the par-three 12th. The 36-year-old came home in 40 to post a 75, which pushed him down the leaderboard, on eight-under-par and in sixth place.
Danie van Niekerk followed up his brilliant 64 in the second round with a solid 70 on Saturday, and he is alone in third place, five shots behind Williams on 10-under-par.
Nikhil Rama and Estiaan Conradie both shot par-72s in the third round and share fourth place on nine-under-par.
Scores:
201 – Robin Williams 66 67 68
205 – Michael Hollick 63 72 70
206 – Danie Van Niekerk 72 64 70
207 – Nikhil Rama 68 67 72, Estiaan Conradie 67 68 72
208 – Heinrich Bruiners 65 68 75
209 – Dan Erickson 70 70 69
210 – Jason Roets 70 71 69, Ulrich van den Berg 69 72 69, Gregory Mckay 71 69 70
211 – Kyle De Beer 69 74 68, Jacques P de Villiers 70 68 73
212 – Gerhard Trytsman 74 69 69, Callum Mowat 67 71 74
213 – Combrinck Smit 72 71 70, Keenan Davidse 69 73 71, Kyle Barker 73 69 71, Joe Long 73 65 75
214 – DK Kim 75 71 68, Jake Redman 72 72 70, Merrick Bremner 72 71 71, Anthony Michael 70 69 75
215 – Rhys West 71 75 69, Ruan Conradie 72 74 69, Luke Brown 69 76 70, Jean Hugo 71 74 70, Haydn Porteous 73 72 70, Pierre Pellegrin 72 71 72, Luke Jerling 72 71 72, Malcolm Mitchell 72 68 75, Kyle McClatchie 68 71 76, Daniel van Tonder 70 68 77
216 – Gerard du Plooy 73 71 72, Jordan Burnand 71 73 72
217 – Keagan Thomas 74 72 71, Gerhard Pepler 73 73 71, Matthew Spacey 74 72 71, Chris Cannon 73 70 74, Ricky Hendler 72 68 77, Trevor Fisher Jnr 63 74 80
218 – Marcel Steyn Scholtz 73 72 73, Altin van der Merwe 75 69 74, Karabo Mokoena 73 69 76, Robson Chinhoi 72 70 76, Fredrik From 70 71 77
219 – Jacques Blaauw 75 71 73, Martin Rohwer 70 76 73, Erhard Lambrechts 76 70 73, Adam Breen 69 76 74, Jack Hawksby 72 72 75, Toto Thimba Jnr 71 70 78
220 – Dayne Moore 76 70 74, Stefan Wears-Taylor 72 73 75, Nyasha Muyambo 73 71 76, Sean Bradley 67 77 76, Franklin Manchest 71 73 76, Sentanio Minnie 73 70 77
221 – James Mack 69 77 75, James Pennington 71 75 75
222 – Ruan Korb 70 76 76
223 – Jovan Rebula 75 71 77, Wade Jacobs 72 73 78
224 – Siyanda Mwandla 74 72 78
225 – Luke Trocado 76 70 79
226 – David Wicks 71 75 80
Missed the cut:-
147 – Riekus Nortje 71 76, Ruan de Smidt 75 72, Albert Venter 76 71, Aneurin Gounden 76 71, Jared Harvey 72 75, Willie Olivier 71 76, Richie O’Donovan 74 73, Ryan Tipping 77 70, Keelan van Wyk 71 76, Wynand Dingle 73 74, Jonathan Broomhead 73 74, Tristen Strydom 76 71, Makhetha Mazibuko 70 77
148 – Hayden Griffiths 74 74, Nicholaus Frade 74 74, LB Boshoff 80 68, Madalitso Muthiya 75 73, Jacquin Hess 71 77
149 – Adriel Poonan 79 70, Leon Visser 72 77, Vaughn van Deventer 74 75, Doug McGuigan 72 77, Sean Cronje 76 73, Christiaan Basson 75 74, Allister de Kock 73 76, Ryan Cairns 72 77, Hunter Epson 74 75, Stuart Krog 73 76, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 78 71
150 – Siphiwe Siphayi 74 76, Sydney Joseph Wemba 75 75, Tyron Davidowitz 78 72, Steven Le Roux 76 74, Thabang Simon 71 79
151 – Mandla Dlamini Jnr 77 74, Travis Ladner 75 76, Conner Mackenzie 74 77, Drikus Joubert 75 76, Jaco Van Zyl 80 71, Richard Joubert 80 71, Sipho Bujela 78 73
152 – Ben Firth 76 76, Reinhardt Blaauw 76 76, Jonathan Waschefort 78 74
153 – Mutahi Kibugu 75 78, Keelan Africa 76 77, Alphius Kelapile 74 79, Alex Haindl 75 78, Quintin Wilsnach 75 78, Rourke van der Spuy 75 78, Brian Gondo 72 81
154 – Teboho Sefatsa 79 75, Evance Vukeya 78 76
155 – Clancy Waugh 79 76
156 – Omar Sandys 78 78
157 – Michael Kok 77 80, Shalan Govender 80 77, Jastice Mashego 79 78
158 – Brandon-Jude Rennie 80 78, Ronald Rugumayo 82 76
161 – Irvin Mazibuko 83 78, Slenda Sithebe 74 87
162 – Fezekile Kana 83 79
Photo by Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour
