Erik van Rooyen got himself into the top 20 on Saturday with a four-under-par 68 in the third round of the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California.
Having got his round to three-under with a bogey-free front nine, he dropped two strokes with bogeys on the 10th and 11th immediately after the turn. He pulled things back with consecutive birdies on the 14th and 15th, and he made a final birdie on the par-five 18th with a 226-yard approach to just left of the green.
At nine-under-par for the tournament, he was eight strokes off the lead which was held by US Open champion Wyndham Clark. Clark left an eagle putt fractionally short on the 18th which would have given him a 59. His 12-under 60 took him to 17-under, one stroke clear of Swedish rookie Ludvig Aberg. Frenchman Matthieu Pavon was in third after a third-round 66 took him to 15-under.
Sharing 20th with Van Rooyen was, amongst others, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who matched the 68 of his countryman. He too made six birdies and two bogeys, and also made birdie on the 18th – except he laid up on the final par-five.
