Scotland’s Scott Jamieson and Alexander Bjork of Sweden shot three-under-par 68 on Saturday to total 13-under-par for the tournament and co-lead Tshwane Open on moving day, as South Africa’s Dean Burmester and Jorge Campillo of Spain lurked ominously behind them on 12-under at Pretoria Country Club.
Jamieson has won only one European Tour event before and his five birdies in a round where he made two bogeys gave him much needed confidence going into the final round. ‘I’m in a great position to go out and try and win the tournament tomorrow,’ he said
‘Yet again, I was really good tee to green, but I felt as if I left quite a few out there on the greens. I wasn’t at my best there but tomorrow’s another day and I have a chance of winning.’
Jamieson said he felt very comfortable on the course and hopes to produce the same performance tomorrow. He said he will not worry about whether or not the greens are quicker out there tomorrow, as some players might have, but rather he will play them as he finds them. ‘The way I like to putt is just to not think about pace. There’s enough to think about without worrying about hard you hit it. I like to just react to what I see,’ he said.
Bjork’s consistency, on the other hand, paid off for him as he brushed off Burmester’s challenge which had taken him to the top spot momentarily before the Swede made birdie on 18 to reclaim that position.
‘I’m very pleased with my position. It was a solid round today. I got off to a very good start with two straight birdies,’ he said. ‘Things were a little bit worse in the middle of the round, but I finished with a good birdie on 18, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.’
And unlike Jamieson who seemed not to worry a lot about the speed of the greens, the Swede saw things differently. ‘I do have a bit of difficulty reading the speed of the greens, especially on the downhill putts. I tend to leave them maybe about a metre short when I have the longer putts. I’m going to try and work on that for tomorrow’s round, and hopefully my pace with the putts will be a little bit better,’ he said.
Burmester opened with a bogey on moving day but made up for it with four consecutive birdies on that front nine and birdied his last two holes to sign for 65.
‘I actually felt like I played well the first two days. Yesterday, I scrambled it a little bit, but I putted better. I put pretty much all facets of the game together today and managed to post a good score,’ he said.
A player with an eye for detail, Burmester was critical of himself about his play on the back nine. ‘It was maybe a bit frustrating not to pick up more birdies on the homeward nine. I thought the back nine played a little bit tougher.
‘There were some seriously sneaky flags and you could short side yourself and put yourself in a lot of trouble quickly. I played that nine a little safer than I did on the front nine, but I also felt I didn’t hit it as well – not as straight – but I’ll go and work on that on the range now,’ Burmester said.
Picture of Jamieson and Bjork courtesy of Luke Walker/Sunshine Tour/Gallo Images)
Third round scores:
200 – Scott Jamieson 67 65 68, Alexander Bjork 65 67 68
201 – Dean Burmester 68 68 65, Jorge Campillo 67 69 65
202 – Mikko Korhonen 66 69 67
203 – Oliver Fisher 71 70 62, Ben Eccles 66 73 64, Thomas Aiken 72 62 69, Peter Karmis 67 67 69, James Morrison 67 66 70
204 – Zander Lombard 69 70 65, Peter Uihlein 69 70 65
205 – Dawie Van der Walt 72 67 66, Marc Warren 68 70 67, Gregory Havret 65 70 70, Justin Walters 66 68 71
206 – Paul Dunne 73 68 65, Ross McGowan 69 69 68
207 – Dylan Frittelli 71 71 65, Richie Ramsay 68 70 69, Duncan Stewart 66 72 69, Hennie Otto 68 70 69, Jacques Blaauw 69 68 70, Steve Webster 70 67 70, Jordan Smith 69 68 70
208 – Bernd Ritthammer 72 70 66, Vaughn Groenewald 70 72 66, Jose-Filipe Lima 71 69 68, Alexander Knappe 72 68 68, Wallie Coetsee 71 68 69, Maximilian Kieffer 73 66 69, Jacques Kruyswijk 69 69 70
209 – Chris Swanepoel 70 72 67, Daniel Brooks 68 74 67, Jaco Ahlers 71 70 68, Matthieu Pavon 71 70 68, Daniel Im 74 67 68, Simon Dyson 68 73 68, Justin Hicks 68 73 68, David Drysdale 72 68 69, Adilson Da Silva 69 70 70, Louis de Jager 68 71 70, Lee Slattery 71 67 71, Matthew Southgate 67 71 71, Soomin Lee 68 69 72, Jamie Donaldson 70 67 72
210 – Romain Langasque 68 74 68, Paul Peterson 70 72 68, Trevor Immelman 71 70 69, Ricardo Gonzalez 71 69 70, Titch Moore 71 69 70, Hennie du Plessis 70 70 70, David Horsey 70 69 71, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 72 67 71, Garth Mulroy 67 68 75
211 – Anthony Wall 70 72 69, Sam Walker 71 71 69, Jaco Prinsloo 69 73 69, Robert Rock 69 72 70, Anthony Michael 75 65 71, Chris Hanson 68 71 72, Chris Paisley 70 68 73, Graeme Storm 68 70 73, Haydn Porteous 65 72 74
212 – Jean Hugo 72 70 70, Renato Paratore 73 69 70, Thomas Detry 71 70 71
213 – Pep Angles 68 74 71, Trevor Fisher Jnr 71 69 73, Marcus Armitage 68 72 73
214 – Colin Nel 71 71 72, Damien Perrier 69 73 72, Ruan de Smidt 70 72 72, Ricardo Gouveia 69 72 73, Pelle Edberg 71 70 73, Lucas Bjerregaard 71 70 73, Darren Fichardt 69 70 75
215 – Lyle Rowe 70 72 73, Keenan Davidse 68 74 73
217 – Edoardo Molinari 69 73 75, Francesco Laporta 70 71 76