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Tight finish at Pearl Valley

Paarl - Pablo Martin turned down a drop off a cart path on Saturday and still managed to record an even-par 72 to hold a one-shot lead after the third round of the South African Open Championship.

He landed on a path on the 14th after his attempted second out of the thick rough advanced just a few metres and landed on the concrete on the 6 681-metre par-72 Pearl Valley Golf Estates layout.

“The drop didn’t look very good, and I thought it would come out okay from the concrete,” said the 23-year-old Spaniard who leads from Italian World Cup winner Edoardo Molinari.

Swede Fredrik Andersson Hed, former champion James Kingston of South Africa and Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner-in-waiting Anders Hansen of Denmark are on nine-under 207, two shots off the pace.

“Whenever I don’t make too many mistakes, I’m always pretty pleased with it,” said Kingston of this three-under 69.

He made only one bogey on the 11th when he overclubbed. “But that’s the kind of golf I like to play. You just keep making pars and try and roll in one or two.

“I’m surprised to see Pablo come back a little bit, which has brought all of us back into it. I’m actually in just about the perfect spot to be,” said the 2007 champion.

“I’ve played really well the last couple of months, and last week as well,” said Molinari.

“Finally this week, I started making a couple of putts, so I’m in a good position going into Sunday.

The pursuing pack is going to have to hope Martin’s luck turns.

Next best of the South Africans are Chris Swanepoel and Michiel Bothma, who, at seven-under 209 are by no means out of it.

Defending champion Richard Sterne fired a two-over 74 to finish on two-under 214, one shot ahead of the leading amateur Dylan Frittelli who carded a 72.

“No words,” said Martin of a round which also saw him hit a spectator on the head on the seventh, and bounce off the rocks around a stream on the 12th and rebound onto the green to give him a putt for birdie – which he rammed in from 20 feet.

“The ball was going to some house on seven, and he kept me in play,” he said of the lucky break he got. “I got up and down from there. I gave him the ball and told him we could have a few beers later.”

Having thought the ball would come off the concrete okay, it did not, and he made a double bogey six there.

With his swing causing just about every shot to start too far right, or even stay out right, he battled to keep his game on track, and even decided to use his driver off the fairway on 18 in an attempt to reverse his fortunes.

“I couldn’t get the green with a three-wood, so I thought, ‘What the heck. Maybe it hits a tree and goes in the hole.’ Nothing bad can happen to me today,” he laughed.

He managed to birdie the 18th after pushing his second shot right into the rough, and lifted himself out of a share of the lead with Molinari.

“I can’t believe that either,” he said of the fact that he leads going into the final round.

Scores (RSA unless specified):

205 - Pablo Martin (ESP) 65 68 72

206 - Edoardo Molinari (ITA) 68 69 69

207 - Fredrik Andersson Hed (SWE) 71 68 68, James Kingston 72 66 69, Anders Hansen (DEN) 66 69 72

208 - Shiv Kapur (IND) 71 68 69

209 - Chris Swanepoel 72 69 68, Michiel Bothma 68 73 68

210 - Richie Ramsay (SCO) 67 75 68, Michael Hoey (NIR) 70 70 70, Louis Oosthuizen 68 69 73, Alejandro Canizares (ESP) 69 67 74

211 - Richard Bland (ENG) 73 72 66, Jean Hugo 72 69 70, Thomas Aiken 69 71 71

212 - Darren Fichardt 73 71 68, Simon Khan (ENG) 73 71 68, Jbe' Kruger 72 71 69, Michael Jonzon (SWE) 68 75 69, Scott Dunlap (USA) 72 70 70, Soren Hansen (DEN) 70 72 70, Damien McGrane (IRL) 69 72 71, Callum Macaulay (SCO) 70 69 73, Adilson da Silva (BRA) 69 69 74, Dawie Van der Walt 65 73 74

213 - Pelle Edberg (SWE) 76 69 68, David Drysdale (SCO) 75 70 68, Marc Cayeux (ZIM) 73 72 68, Jacques Blaauw 69 75 69, Sam Hutsby (ENG) 71 73 69, Peter Karmis 70 73 70, Brandon Pieters 74 69 70, Gregory Bourdy (FRA) 69 74 70, Richard McEvoy (ENG) 71 69 73

214 - David Hewan 77 68 69, Grant Muller 72 72 70, Andre Cruse 72 71 71, Carlos Rodiles (ESP) 70 71 73, Andrew Coltart (SCO) 74 67 73, Richard Sterne 71 69 74

215 - Charl Schwartzel 77 68 70, Louis Moolman 70 74 71, Fredrik Ohlsson (SWE) 71 73 71, Gary Murphy (IRL) 75 69 71, Rhys Davies (WAL) 73 70 72, John Bickerton (ENG) 73 70 72, Jaco Van Zyl 76 67 72, Dylan Frittelli (AMA) 69 74 72, Dion Fourie 71 72 72, Gareth Maybin (NIR) 75 68 72, Joost Luiten (NED) 73 69 73, George Coetzee 74 67 74, Carl Suneson (ESP) 71 70 74, Richard Finch (ENG) 68 71 76

216 - Robert Rock (ENG) 71 74 71, Garth Mulroy 72 72 72, Keith Horne 71 72 73, Steve Basson 73 70 73, Ulrich van den Berg 69 73 74, Branden Grace 72 70 74, Kenneth Ferrie (ENG) 71 70 75, Martin Erlandsson (SWE) 64 74 78

217 - Paul Waring (ENG) 73 72 72, Markus Brier (AUT) 71 74 72, Doug McGuigan 70 75 72, Mikael Lundberg(SWE) 74 70 73, Oliver Bekker 72 72 73, Oskar Henningsson (SWE) 74 70 73

218 - TC Charamba (ZIM) 73 72 73, Rafael Cabrera Bello (ESP) 79 65 74, JG Claassen (AMA) 74 69 75

219 - James Morrison (ENG) 72 73 74, Thabang Simon 75 70 74

220 - Lindani Ndwandwe 72 73 75, Peter Whiteford(SCO) 73 72 75

221 - Ryan Dreyer (AMA) 73 72 76, James Kamte 70 74 77, Alan McLean (SCO) 69 73 79, Tyrone Ferreira 71 71 79

223 - Marco Ruiz (PAR) 74 70 79
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