Kitwe - While all about him were playing it safe, Daniel van Tonder was using his driver at every opportunity on Saturday on his way to a four-under-par 68 and the 54-hole lead of the Zambia Open.
He made six birdies and just two bogeys at Nkana Golf Club which has tested the players to the utmost. In fact, Van Tonder's round - and Callum Mowat's 68 - was the lowest of the week and gave him a two-stroke edge over JJ Senekal and Jacques Blaauw going into the final round.
"The biggest thing in my game at the moment is the driver," said Van Tonder.
"I'm hitting driver everywhere which means I'm chipping the whole time. It gives me an advantage over everyone. It's a short course but it's very tight. I use driver to hit it as close as possible and from there chip and putt. I'm just having a few bad breaks with the putts on these greens."
That approach worked especially well on the 18th, where the tee-box was put forward in an attempt to entice the players to go for the pin over the water in front of the green.
"Standing on the tee box, my wife actually asked me if I was going to lay up and I said, 'Well, no! I haven’t laid up once this week.' I took driver straight at the pin. I hit it a bit too well. I think it bounced close to the pin and just went over the green and over the bunker. I chipped and almost made a nice eagle," said Van Tonder.
He took the birdie and, together with the one he made on 17, he’ll feel he has the momentum going into Sunday's play.
"Finishing birdie-birdie gives me a lot of confidence going into tomorrow," he said. "I'll just take tomorrow as another day. It's another 18 holes and you have to play the golf course as you find it."
Senekal came charging through the field with five birdies between the 12th and 17th, a run that was spoiled by a bogey on the 16th.
"I started the round hitting the ball very nicely, but couldn't make a putt to save my life," he said. "I actually changed my grip halfway through the front nine, and then I started making a couple and got myself back into it."
Blaauw started with a double bogey on the first, but he picked up four birdies against just one bogey for the rest of his round to move into his share of second.
"I've been struggling to concentrate solely on the shot at hand," he said. "On this course, you just have to make peace with the fact that you're dropping shots. It's a question of limiting the damage that the course inflicts."
It won’t stop inflicting damage in the final round.
Scores:
213 - Daniel van Tonder 72 73 68
215 - JJ Senekal 73 73 69, Jacques Blaauw 69 75 71
216 - Callum Mowat 73 75 68, Steve Surry 73 73 70
217 - Thriston Lawrence 71 75 71, Rhys Enoch 71 74 72, Neil Schietekat 71 72 74
218 - Merrick Bremner 73 72 73, Lyle Rowe 73 72 73, Jaco Prinsloo 72 72 74, Juran Dreyer 71 71 76
219 - Jaco Ahlers 73 74 72, Doug McGuigan 74 70 75
220 - Christiaan Basson 73 72 75, Kyle Pilgrim 71 74 75
221 - Ruan Conradie 78 71 72, Philip Eriksson 77 72 72, Luke Jerling 77 71 73, Hennie Otto 74 74 73, Jonathan Agren 77 70 74, Rourke van der Spuy 71 76 74, Fredrik From 72 74 75, JC Ritchie 70 75 76, Jacques P de Villiers 73 71 77, Stephen Ferreira 69 73 79
222 - Madalitso Muthiya 77 74 71, Stefan Wears-Taylor 77 73 72, Pieter Moolman 73 77 72, Ross McGowan 77 69 76, Dylan Naidoo 75 71 76
223 - Trevor Fisher Jnr 77 73 73, Anthony Michael 74 75 74, Jade Buitendag 73 73 77, Benjamin Follett-Smith 71 74 78
224 - Ryan Cairns 74 77 73, Wynand Dingle 75 75 74, Luke Mayo 76 73 75, Kyle Barker 73 76 75, Rhys West 73 75 76, Daniel Greene 75 69 80, Chris Cannon 71 73 80
225 - Thanda Mavundla 77 74 74, Andrew van der Knaap 73 77 75, CJ du Plessis 75 75 75, Ruan de Smidt 76 74 75, Michael Palmer 73 73 79
227 - Dayne Moore 77 74 76, Keenan Davidse 75 75 77
228 - Damon Stephenson 80 71 77, Makhetha Mazibuko 77 73 78, Michael Hollick 74 75 79, Hayden Griffiths 72 75 81
229 - Andrew Odoh 76 73 80, Derick Petersen 74 74 81
230 - Teaghan Gauche 72 78 80, Scott Campbell 78 72 80
231 - Dylan Mostert 73 78 80
234 - Andre Nel 78 73 83
235 - Wallie Coetsee 76 70 89