Share

Red-hot Harding shares lead in Mauritius

Anahita - Justin Harding played himself to a share of the lead in round three of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open when he carded an unblemished eight-under-par 64 at Four Season Golf Club on Saturday.

He joined overnight leader Kurt Kitayama of the United States who shot two-under in round three to total 16-under-par ahead of the final round in Mauritius.

"I got off to a good start," he acknowledged. "And, it was just more about making some good putts there and at the end of the day I did the job, hey, put myself in a decent position to get the result tomorrow. I certainly gave myself a few chances."

He made par on his opening hole and followed that up with a hat-trick of birdies before making another crucial par on the par-three fifth hole. Two more birdies got onto his card on the sixth and eighth holes as he went out in 31.

"I feel like I have a really good putter in my hands where if I roll a couple of good putts anything can happen,” said Harding. “It was a tough day starting out but I got off to a hot start. I felt like I should have birdied the first 10 holes. It's one of those where you just had some good numbers and I made some good swings."

He was just as solid on the homeward stretch, picking up birdies on the 11th and the par-five 13th and 18th holes to sign for a 64 as he targets his fifth win of the season. He has won twice on the Sunshine Tour while claiming the same number of victories on the Asian Tour.

"Without doubt (my best tournament round on the Sunshine Tour)," he noted. "I really felt like I played pretty well today. I had good control, especially in the first 10, 13 holes. I kind of felt like I could birdie every hole out there.

"It just felt like I could be a little bit more aggressive with the flag today, and I mean, that's golf sometimes. Sometimes you play a round of golf and you feel like everything looks good. I mean, I walked on to the green and thought that I had a good line and everything and they should all go in."

Sharing the third spot behind Harding and Kitayama was Masahiro Kawamura of Japan, Matthieu Pavon of France and India's Chikkarangappa S who are all three shots behind ahead of the final round.

Scores:

200 - Justin Harding 67 69 64, Kurt Kitayama 65 65 70

203 - Masahiro Kawamura 65 71 67, Matthieu Pavon 67 66 70, Chikkarangappa S 64 68 71

204 - Victor Perez 64 69 71

205 - Gavin Moynihan 69 65 71

206 - Grant Forrest 70 71 65, Clement Sordet 71 67 68, Max Schmitt 71 66 69, Oliver Bekker 67 69 70

207 - Romain Langasque 70 72 65, Ajeetesh Sandhu 69 70 68, Dylan Frittelli 69 70 68, Lee Slattery 67 69 71

208 - Adilson Da Silva 73 67 68, Antoine Rozner 70 68 70, Raphael Jacquelin 70 67 71, Jbe' Kruger 70 67 71, Trevor Fisher Jnr 69 66 73

209 - Thomas Aiken 70 71 68, Jack Harrison 71 70 68, Alex Haindl 67 72 70, Yikeun Chang 71 68 70, Yanwei Liu 71 67 71, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 70 68 71

210 - Berry Henson 69 71 70, Keith Horne 68 71 71, Ernie Els 69 70 71, Jean Hugo 71 67 72, Matthias Schwab 67 71 72

211 - Gonzalo Fdez-Castano 72 69 70, Jeunghun Wang 76 65 70, Jordan Smith 68 72 71, Rourke van der Spuy 68 72 71, Christofer Blomstrand 70 68 73

212 - Tyrone Ryan 69 72 71, Kim Koivu 70 71 71, George Coetzee 69 72 71, Joachim B. Hansen 71 70 71, Jaco Ahlers 70 70 72, Fabrizio Zanotti 71 68 73, Pedro Figueiredo 71 68 73, Lionel Weber 69 69 74, Malcolm Kokocinski 67 71 74

213 - Nicolas Colsaerts 72 69 72, Siddikur Rahman 70 70 73, Gregory Havret 72 68 73, Adri Arnaus 72 66 75

214 - Joel Girrbach 70 72 72, Haydn Porteous 76 66 72, Jaco Van Zyl 65 75 74, Philip Eriksson 68 72 74

215 - Udayan Mane 70 72 73, Dawie Van der Walt 72 69 74, Stuart Manley 71 70 74, Hyowon Park 68 73 74, Estiaan Conradie 70 70 75, Paul Peterson 68 72 75

217 - Viraj Madappa 68 74 75, Hennie Otto 74 68 75, Bowen Xiao 73 67 77

218 - Julien Brun 70 72 76, David Drysdale 69 70 79, Merrick Bremner 68 68 82

Missed the cut:

143 - James Kamte 72 71, Gregory Bourdy 76 67, Marc Cayeux 75 68, Steve Surry 73 70, Bernd Ritthammer 72 71, Travis Smyth 68 75, Niall Turner 70 73, Ivan Cantero Gutierrez 72 71, Toto Thimba 74 69, Madalitso Muthiya 71 72, Adrien Saddier 71 72, Guido Migliozzi 73 70

144 - Oliver Wilson 73 71, Wenchong Liang 73 71, Aman Raj 75 69, Zander Lombard 72 72, Louis de Jager 73 71, Michael Palmer 71 73, Derick Petersen 72 72, Hennie du Plessis 72 72, Steve Lewton 72 72, Doug McGuigan 70 74, Lorenzo Gagli 72 72

145 - JJ Senekal 73 72, Per Langfors 74 71, Rhys Enoch 72 73, Jake Roos 72 73, Arjun Atwal 73 72, Benjamin Hebert 72 73, Khalin Joshi 77 68, Richard Sterne 71 74, Matias Calderon 74 71, Junya Kameshiro 72 73, Casey O'Toole 73 72, Daniel van Tonder 73 72, Jack Singh Brar 73 72, Filippo Bergamaschi 70 75, Jens Dantorp 69 76

146 - Scott Gregory 71 75, Liam Johnston 73 73, Christoffer Baumann 75 71, Baejong Park 71 75, Marcel Siem 70 76, Matthew Jordan 72 74, John Catlin 70 76, Jarin Todd 72 74, David Lipsky 74 72, Alvaro Quiros 70 76

147 - Vaughn Groenewald 74 73, Marc Ong 71 76, Settee Prakongvech 75 72, Jared Harvey 75 72, MJ Viljoen 71 76, Rhys West 75 72, Bryce Easton 74 73, Ben Evans 74 73, Karandeep Kochhar 72 75, Jesse Yap 70 77, Jean-Paul Strydom 72 75

148 - Jaco Prinsloo 77 71, Keenan Davidse 75 73, Mitchell Slorach 72 76, Basil Wright 74 74, Ockie Strydom 71 77, Bernd Wiesberger 72 76, Neil Schietekat 76 72

149 - Lyle Rowe 75 74, Steven Lecuyer 76 73, Justin Walters 75 74

150 - Matteo Manassero 76 74, Paul Harris 75 75, Shohei Hasegawa 78 72, Garth Mulroy 70 80, Jose-Filipe Lima 70 80, Simon Griffiths 74 76, Samarth Dwivedi 76 74

151 - Abdul Hadi 78 73, Ulrich van den Berg 76 75

153 - Carlos Pigem 79 74, Edoardo Molinari 77 76, Kristian Krogh Johannessen 77 76

155 - Ruan de Smidt 78 77

156 - Khai Jei Low 75 81

157 - Andre De Decker 75 82, Espen Kofstad 81 76, David Gleeson 79 78

158 - Pierre Pellegrin 77 81

165 - Adriel Poonan 85 80

RTD - Jyoti Randhawa 77 RTD, Anton Karlsson 71 

RTD - Himmat Rai RTD

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Voting Booth
Should Siya Kolisi keep the captaincy as the Springboks build towards their World Cup title defence in 2027?
Please select an option Oops! Something went wrong, please try again later.
Results
Yes! Siya will only be 36 at the next World Cup. He can make it!
25% - 1273 votes
No! I think the smart thing to do is start again with a younger skipper ...
29% - 1472 votes
I'd keep Siya captain for now, but look to have someone else for 2027.
45% - 2251 votes
Vote
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE