He made two bogeys on Saturday, but the rest of Oliver Bekker’s round was breathtakingly good as he signed for a third-round eight-under-par 64 to pull clear at the top of the leaderboard in the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt.
An eagle and eight birdies more than made up for any frustration Bekker might have felt at dropping those shots, as he raced to 18-under-par and a five-stroke lead going into the final round of the tournament co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour and the Challenge Tour.
“I was a little put out by the bogeys,” said Bekker after his round. “The one on the eighth was especially annoying, because it came on a par-five where I was in the middle of the fairway. Luckily, I made two birdies and an eagle immediately after that, and that eased the pain.
“The bogey on 13 also came from the middle of the fairway, and when my caddie suggested I use the same rescue on the 18th, I decided against taking his advice,” laughed Bekker.
Bekker, the 2012 champion in the tournament, played his round on Outeniqua, widely regarded as the most gettable of the three on which the tournament is played – Outeniqua, Montagu and The Links – but he is not sure he entirely agrees with that assessment.
“I’ve found over the years that I like Montagu best,” said Bekker. “I’ve played some of my best rounds on Montagu, and I can remember some good scores from The Links too.”
With the cut having being made after all professionals played a round on each of the layouts, Bekker can look forward to playing his final round on his favourite amongst the three – and doing so with a substantial lead. He is five strokes clear of Luke Jerling, who carded a one-under on Montagu to move to 13-under. Manuel Elvira of Spain and Sweden’s Adam Blomme were on 12-under after rounds of three-under 70 on the Links for Elvira and level-par 72 on Outeniqua for Blomme.
Part of the difficulty of hauling Bekker in for those pursuers and the rest is that Bekker is so relaxed this week. “I have played so much golf here,” he said. “I’ve come home from the DP World Tour, choosing this tournament over playing in Singapore, and I feel so comfortable. It also helps that I’ve won this before, so I know what it will be all about in the final round.”
