Rowan Lester has climbed into a share of 37th heading into the fourth and final round of the Sunshine Tour’s Kit Kat Cash & Carry Pro-Am at Irene Country Club, but Liam Grehan, battling a cold, ran out of steam.
Lester was forced to sweat on the cutline on Friday afternoon, but once his weekend berth was secured and with the benefit of being first pairing to take to the course, he fancied his chances at making up early ground.
Back-to-back birdies on one and two was the ideal start, but bogeys on the next two was a sharp momentum halter. He regrouped to birdie one more on the front side, but another bogey on the 13th left him stuck on level for the day as he approached the final three holes.
They’re holes that have been good to the Hermitage man, however, and a birdie on 16 was followed by an eagle on the par-5 17th, his second big bird of the week on that hole, and a par at the last saw him sign for a three-under 69 and climb 18 places on the leaderboard.
Grehan, who shot a five-under 67 on day two, was a little out of sorts early doors, bogeying the par-5 second hole and the par-4 sixth but birdied the fifth to limit the damage. Disaster struck on the par-5 ninth, however, and a sextuple-bogey 11 spoiled any chances of the top-10 finish required to get him straight into next week’s event.
To his credit, he played the back nine in one-under, but it was a blow he couldn’t recover from and he fell to 64th on the leaderboard.
At the top of the table, Mexican Luis Carrera, who won the previous week in Zimbabwe and led after round one, resumed his position at the top of the leaderboard thanks to a six-under 66. Dylan Fritelli, a mutliple DP World Tour and one-time PGA Tour winner, has moved into second after matching Carrera’s 66, while Gerhard Pepler went one better and he moves into a two-way tie for third with Trevor Fisher Jnr.
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