Jayden Schaper was the only South African left in the field to make a significant upward move on Saturday in the third round of the DP World Tour’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters at Doha Golf Club in Doha, Qatar.
On a day which not conducive to making a big move on ‘moving day’, a three-under-par 69 was enough to see Schaper climb 20 places on the leaderboard into a share of 18th. His four birdies and a bogey took him to five-under through 54 holes. That was just five strokes off the lead on a bunched leaderboard.
Up front, there was a three-way share of the lead between Dane Rasmus Hojgaard, France’s Ugo Coussaud and Japan’s Riyuka Hoshino. At 10-under, they were one ahead of Niklas Norgaard of Denmark, Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin and Scot Ewen Ferguson.
With Schaper on five-under were 13 other players, including fellow South Africans Louis de Jager, Hennie du Plessis, Ockie Strydom and Zander Lombard. Strydom dropped a couple of places with his 71, while Du Plessis and De Jager climbed five spots with their 70s. Lombard, however, battled throughout the day. He had a bogey and a double on the front nine, and another bogey on the 12th. He held things together, however, with three birdies to stay in touch after dropping 14 places.
A shot further back on four-under ahead of the final round was Jacques Kruyswijk after his one-under 71, while Thriston Lawrence and Jaco Prinsloo were on three-under in a share of 42nd. Casey Jarvis was on two-under in a share of 53rd.
