The Africa Open trophy looks set to stay in South Africa with locals Darren Fichardt and Jaco van Zyl tied for the lead heading into Sunday. Fichardt shot a seven-under 65 at East London to share the lead with van Zyl (68) at 15-under after overnight leader Adilson da Silva of Brazil stumbled to a one-over 73. The only man to play all European Tour events so far this season, Fichardt showed off his consistency with seven birdies and an eagle with two bogeys the only blemishes. Van Zyl mixed five birdies with one bogey in his third round on Saturday, although he has progressively dropped one more shot each day from his opening-round six-under. Fourth in the past two years at the tournament, van Zyl is hoping to go a few better on Sunday and keep the title in the country it has stayed since its inception back in 2008. Da Silva&aposs day began well enough, as he eagled the par-three fifth to be two-under through seven, but a triple-bogey and bogey on eight and nine undid all of his good work from his previous 43 holes. A lone birdie on the back nine got da Silva back within two shots of the leaders, but it seems all of his momentum gained on Thursday and Friday was sapped from his game by those two poor holes. Brett Rumford remains the best placed Australian after a 68 took him up to a share of 17th place at seven-under. Meanwhile, there were plenty of players to shoot low rounds on Saturday, with fourth-placed Gregory Bourdy among them after he made it consecutive 67s with a five-under. Bourdy is 12-under overall, one shot ahead of Argentina&aposs Emiliano Grillo – who hit a sparkling eight-under 64 that included six birdies in his opening seven holes. Grillo&aposs score wouldn&apost be the best of the day, though, as Spain&aposs Jorge Campillo carded a nine-under 63 to fly up the leaderboard to a tie for sixth. Campillo began the day on one-under overall but now sits within range of the leaders at 10-under. He is tied with Chile&aposs Mark Tullo and South Africa&aposs Tjaart van der Walt – after the pair both signed off on rounds of four-under. Rounding out the top 10 in a share of ninth are a group of five players, including Desvonde Botes, Morten Orum Madsen, David Higgins, Ricardo Santos and John Parry.
Author: Omnisport