Scott Jamieson leads as Tommy Fleetwood makes big move in Sun City
Sunday 12 November 2017 15:10, UK
Scott Jamieson edged into a one-shot lead as Tommy Fleetwood revived his hopes of wrapping up the Race to Dubai title on day three of the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa.
Jamieson's faultless five-birdie 67 lifted him to the top of the leaderboard on eight under par as overnight-leader Victor Dubuisson fired an erratic 71, while Fleetwood got to within six of the lead at the Gary Player Country Club.
With Justin Rose deciding to take a week off following back-to-back victories which cut Fleetwood's Race to Dubai lead to less than 135,000 points, a win for Fleetwood in Sun City would see him crowned European No 1 ahead of next week's season finale in Dubai.
Fleetwood again gave himself work to do after disappointing rounds of 73 and 74, but he made the perfect start to day three as he eagled the 10th - his first - although he got into trouble at the long 14th and ran up a bogey-six for the second day running.
He got the shot back at 17 only to blot his card again at the next, but Fleetwood birdied the next two holes and picked up further shots at the sixth and ninth to claim a share of the early clubhouse lead.
But Fleetwood will start the final round six behind Jamieson after the Scot plotted his way meticulously around the third-longest course in European Tour history, making birdies at the second and fourth and another at the ninth took him to the turn in 33.
With Dubuisson's group struggling for consistency, Jamieson avoided mistakes and added further birdies at 13 and 14 before parring safely in to return only the third bogey-free round of the day as he chases his second Tour victory, and his first since winning the Nelson Mandela Championship almost five years ago.
Asked what winning a Rolex Series event would mean to him, Jamieson said: "It would be the biggest moment of my career. I'll be well aware of that, so I've got to see if I can step up to the challenge. There's still a long way to go, but if I can obviously do what I did today, I'll be in with a good shout.
"I was much better on the greens today than I had been the first couple days, so that was nice. I got rid of those three-putts I had earlier on in the round on Friday, so I was happy with that."
Dubuisson led by two overnight and made a confident start with a birdie at the first, but another gain at the fourth was offset by bogeys at the third and eighth as he remained on six under heading to the back nine.
The Frenchman birdied the 10th only to give the shot straight back at the next, but he carded a good four at the long 14th and negotiated the tough finishing stretch with four pars to hold onto outright second.
Home favourite Branden Grace is two strokes further adrift after he enjoyed a mid-round run of six birdies in 10 holes, although he was one of many players to err at a final hole which yielded only four birdies on the day as he signed for a 68.
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Grace shares third place with Martin Kaymer, who mixed five birdies with two bogeys in a solid 69, while his former Ryder Cup team-mate Francesco Molinari fired a stunning seven-birdie 65 - comfortably the best round of the day - to vault into contention on three under.
Ross Fisher, David Drysdale, Lee Westwood, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel are all alongside Fleetwood in a share of seventh as only 21 players will head into the final round under the card for the tournament.
