Fleetwood boosts Race to Dubai hopes as Jamieson secures Nedbank lead

Scott Jamieson has a slim lead over Victor Dubuisson in Sun City, while Race to Dubai leader Tommy Fleetwood has charged up the leaderboard.

Published : Nov 12, 2017 00:58 IST

Tommy Fleetwood in Sun City.
Tommy Fleetwood in Sun City.
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Tommy Fleetwood in Sun City.

Tommy Fleetwood enhanced his chances of winning the Race to Dubai by climbing into the top 10 on day three of the Nedbank Golf Challenge as Scott Jamieson took the lead in Sun City.

Victory this week would see Fleetwood open up an unassailable lead over nearest challenger Justin Rose ahead of the season-ending World Tour Championship in Dubai, with the latter choosing not to compete in South Africa following his back-to-back wins at the WGC-HSBC Champions and Turkish Airlines Open.

Rounds of 73 and 74 left Fleetwood off the pace through two rounds, but he shot 67 on Saturday to move into a tie for seventh at two under - six off the lead - and now has the opportunity to significantly enhance his current lead over Rose, which stands at 134,838 points.

Fleetwood's third-round score was matched by Jamieson, whose eight-under aggregate puts him one clear of Victor Dubuisson (71) and three ahead of Branden Grace (68) and Martin Kaymer (69).

The Frenchman had led by two overnight and extended his advantage to three with a spectacular birdie at the first, where he recovered from an errant tee shot with a superb approach. 

However, Dubuisson combined three further gains with as many bogeys thereafter, while Jamieson did not drop any shots in a superb round featuring birdies at the second, fourth, ninth, 13th and 14th.

Grace managed six birdies in the space of 10 holes between the sixth and 15th, but that stunning run came in between bogeys on the fifth and 18th.

The round of the day belonged to Francesco Molinari, who shot 65 to share fifth with Haydn Porteous (67) on three under.

Among those alongside Fleetwood at two under is Louis Oosthuizen, the South African having double bogeyed the penultimate hole in his round of 70. Oosthuizen is six off the pace and six over for the week across holes 16, 17 and 18.

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