George — Dean Burmester made three eagles on Saturday in the third round of the Sunshine Tour’s Dimension Data Pro-Am as he climbed the leaderboard into a share of second with a superb nine-under-par 63 on the Montagu course at Fancourt.
With Montagu widely regarded at the toughest of the three courses the tournament is played on ahead of the final round on Montagu, Burmester made light of the back nine as he raced home in seven-under-par 29. His 71 at Outeniqua and his 65 on The Links at Fancourt put him at 18-under-par, together with New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier, who had a nine-under 63 on Outeniqua. They are one stroke behind the leader, Germany’s Alexander Knappe, whose 66 on Montagu took him to 19-under.
Burmester, who started the tournament with a triple-bogey back on Thursday, bogeyed the third in the third round after two opening pars, but then the scoring started. He made eagle on the fourth, and followed that with birdies on the fifth and seventh. An irritating six on the par-five ninth ahead of the turn was to be the last time he dropped a shot.
At two-under at the turn, he was at 11-under for the tournament, and Knappe was ahead of him on the course and pulling away on the scoreboard. Making up for the bogey on the ninth, Burmester birdied the par-five 10th, and then holed his approach on the 11th for his second eagle. There were two more birdies on the 13th and 15th.
Then came the 315-metre 16th, and Burmester blew his drive 12 feet past the flag. He made the return putt, walking it in for the third eagle of his round. With a par-five waiting on the 16th, there was every chance he could have drawn level with Knappe, or even overtaken him with what would have been an astonishing fourth eagle. But his drive was out of position down the right, and he had to lay up left of the green behind the water. His pitch wasn’t close enough for a certain one-putt, and he walked off having to be satisfied with a par.
Burmester will be four shots clear of Spain’s Ivan Cantero Gutierrez and Richarrd Mansell of England, who share fourth. And he will have the momentum of that closing nine on Montagu with him as he starts out in pursuit of the title in the final round.
SA Tour Golf