• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Leopard Creek Times Alfred Dunhill Championship Daily News ROUND 3, SATURDAY 30 NOVEMBER, 2019 LARRAZABAL LEADS INTO WEEKEND OF ALFRED DUNHILL CHAMPIONSHIP Pablo Larrazabal’s love for Leopard Creek shone through as he opened up a three-stroke lead over the field going into the weekend of the Alfred Dunhill Championship. n another scorching day in It is Larrazabal’s deep love and ad- tant to keep my round going. I told under is out there, but when this the bushveld, the Spaniard miration for this golf course and myself I had a lot of birdies coming course has its teeth out like this you Osigned for a round of 69 what this tournament represents in and I took them.” need to stay patient and experience and the lead on nine under par. But that means he will never take any- He made four straight birdies from is key.” three shots behind him lies 2014 thing for granted out here. Even the 10th, bogeyed the 14th and then Top-ranked South African amateur champion Branden Grace, with when he made a double bogey on claimed it back with a birdie on 15. Jayden Schaper, a member of the four-time Alfred Dunhill Champi- the treacherous par-three seventh – “It was a tough day out there. The GolfRSA National Elite squad, onship winner Charl Schwartzel the result of a strategic error, he wind was swirling and gusting, and took full advantage of his invitation seven shots back. Overnight leader said – he accepted it with the re- with the tight flags it was very into this tournament and did well to Wil Besseling is also still in conten- spect he has for a golf course that is tough,” he said. make it through to the weekend on tion three shots off the lead. playing its toughest ever with the Grace agreed after his 70, taking two over par. “It doesn’t matter how many shots new grass laid down and the exten- him into the weekend on six under you are ahead of Charl and sive improvements made to it. par. Branden. Charl can shoot six under “You know, it’s one thing to hit a “It was very tricky. On a grinding on this course. This is a golf course bad shot, but when you make a stra- day like this you need to make those where a four-shot swing can hap- tegic error, that’s painful. I did that four- or five-foot putts for par and pen on any hole,” Larrazabal said on seven. But then the putts on be happy with that, which I did. I of his lead. eight and nine for par were impor- still feel a round of six- or seven- Photographs courtesy of Getty Images, Sunshine Tour, Grant Leversha, Christiaan Kotze @dunhilllinks @alfreddunhilllinks Francesco Laporta. ITALIAN PRO LAPORTA PRAISES SUNSHINE TOUR he Sunshine Tour has for Tour, or to go to the United States. decades lived up to its Things are really great here. I Tslogan of gained a lot of experience here in #Gr8nessBeginsHere and as the South Africa. I learned a lot from breeding ground for some of the those two years here,” he said. biggest names in the history of the The support of major tournaments game. Italy’s Francesco Laporta, such as the Alfred Dunhill competing in this week’s Alfred Championship plays a key role in Dunhill Championship, certainly the Sunshine Tour’s ability to agrees. continually attract the next Laporta believes the Sunshine Tour generation of stars to these should be the first choice for fairways. professional golfers looking to “The Sunshine Tour is recognised kickstart their careers, as it was for worldwide as possibly the best him when he earned his tour card Tour for young professionals to at the 2013 Sunshine Tour hone their skills and become Qualifying School before going on competitive while playing world- to secure his playing privileges on class golf courses all-year round the European Tour. and against top quality fields,” said “I believe South Africa is one of Sunshine Tour Commissioner the best places in the world to play Selwyn Nathan. golf, and the Sunshine Tour is a “We are a Tour of opportunity. If really tough tour. Other tours need you can win on the Sunshine Tour, to give more opportunities to you can win on any major tour in South African players to play in the world.” Europe, or to play the Challenge 2 ZANDER ZEROES IN ON ANOTHER TITLE SHOT ander Lombard Zheads into the weekend of the Alfred Dunhill Championship in contention for the third week running this summer. The South African, who finished third in this tournament last year, has been in great form and goes into today’s third round at two under par. He led the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player for two days before finishing tied eighth, then a week later won the Gary Player Invitational charity tournament before heading to Leopard Creek. “It’s nice to still be in contention, that’s why we play, but ITALIAN PRO there is still a long way to go,” he said. “But at least I LAPORTA PRAISES shouldn’t be too far behind going into the weekend. I tried not to force it the SUNSHINE TOUR first two days and just to put the ball in the right position, take it shot-for-shot and hole-for-hole. I was pretty consistent and it’s about Zander Lombard. knowing what pins you can go for here. 47496 “But the way my ball-striking was, I Travel had a lot of confidence that I could put it close Extraordinary when I went for it, Airlink, which is privately owned, operates direct flights although there are from Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Livingstone some pins you can’t to Nelspruit KMIA. Proud travel partner of the Alfred Dunhill Championship 2019. take on. It’s nice to know that you can hit a seven-iron 180 yards within a five-yard radius, it encourages you to do it.” flyairlink.com @fly_airlink Fly Airlink 3 THIS BEAUTY IS A BEAST homas Aiken had one these days – we need to on a medical exemption. of the broadest smiles introduce spin back into the That means the 36-year-old has Tafter a second round of game. seven tournaments in which to 39°C heat and on a Leopard “Getting spin on the ball is an collect enough ranking points to Creek course testing the art form. It’s what got me continue playing on his previous professionals to their limits. enjoying golf – watching Seve privileges. The South African goes into the Ballesteros and Gary Player “It’s a weird feeling not playing weekend well placed on four shaping the ball out of trees and for seven months, starting well under par and is loving every bushes. and then not playing well and minute of the challenge the “So I hope to see spin coming then being under pressure to extensive improvements to back more and more into golf. keep your card. It’s a challenge Leopard Creek are presenting You need it, especially on a from a mental point of view, this field. course like this. This is how but you’ve got to remember to “It’s like Beauty and the Beast courses should be – firm and just play golf. Hopefully I will out there because the course fast and with some rough, and do well enough to get into some looks beautiful and amazing, but then a lack of spin becomes a sort of category that allows me the pin positions are beastly,” real problem for a golfer.” to play 22 events,” Aiken said. Aiken said. Aiken is enjoying being And a golf course such as Yet it’s exactly how he prefers it competitive again following a Leopard Creek gives him the to be this week. seven-month break from the perfect opportunity to do so. “The rough is pretty brutal but game due to his wife, Kate, “There is still a lot of golf left that’s good, that’s how it should suffering serious complications to be played, and I don’t think be or else everybody just plays after the birth of their second anyone is going to run away the smash game that everyone is child. He is starting the with it the way the course is so tired of. The tech is too good European Tour’s 2020 season playing.” Thomas Aiken. 4 THIS BEAUTY IS A BEAST BESSELING STILL IN TITLE CHASE il Besseling took his one-over-par 73 in the second round as a sign that he must Wbe doing something right on a tough Leopard Creek golf course, because it was still good enough to keep him in second place going into the weekend of the Alfred Dunhill Champi- onship. The golfer from The Netherlands kept himself in contention on six under par on a very tricky day. “The wind was blowing in a different direction and it was stronger, and the greens were firmer. I shot one over, but as you can see I’m still lying second overall and that tells you how tough the course played,” he said. Besseling was at seven under par playing the par-four ninth hole, his final hole of the day, and a bogey there dropped him back into a tie for second with former champion Branden Grace. But with the halfway cut falling on three over par, Besseling is more than happy with his progress on a golf course that is this year playing significantly more difficult.

Load more

  8

Copy Link