Bolognesi goes pasta Stone
For two days he topped the leaderboard and when Brandon Stone teed off the third round at Glendower Golf Club this morning, he looked for the world to be the man to beat. But Stone set up an intriguing final day shootout the South African Stroke Play Championship when he squandered a five shot lead in third round on Thursday.
A mid-round wobble resulted in a four shot swing that not only nearly derailed Stone’s title charge, but opened the door for Italy’s Andrea Bolognesi to hit the front and South Africa’s No 2, Haydn Porteous to follow suit.
However, the country’s leading amateur underlined growing stature when he hung on for a three-over-par 75. His share of third on seven-under-par 209 will see him line up alongside Soweto Country Club’s Musi Nethunzi, England’s Toby Tree and countryman Desne van den Bergh, who shot 68, 69 and 70 respectively.
As far as Stone is concerned, he is just two shots off the pace from Bolognesi, who surged to the lead with a 68 and is one behind Porteous, who turned in a 69 and there are still 18 holes to play.
“My campaign took a knock today, but the championship is still very much on,” he said. “Maybe it was the 90 minute delay this morning, maybe it was just my turn, but my luck definitely took the day off.
“It was a very frustrating day, especially because I was looking to post another good score after the 66 and 68. But that’s exactly how golf goes. Of course I’m disgusted with the round, but rounds like these you just have to write it off to experience.
“What’s done is done, you can’t change a thing, so look ahead and change what you can.”
Birdies at two and five took Stone to 12 under, but an unlucky lie after a decent tee shot at the eighth was the start of his woes. “I had to hit my second from an awkward stance with both feet in the fairway bunker but the ball level with my knees,” said Stone, who had to execute a baseball style shot to get a measure down the fairway. “My approach caught the greenside trap and I had a plugged lie. I scooped it out to 10-feet and two-putted for bogey.”
Perhaps trying to put the drop behind him or still fuming about a bogey at a obvious birdie hole, Stone’s tee shot at nine went left into the trees.
“My second clipped a tree and ricochet into the hazard short right of the green. I took a drop, but the shot took one bounce on the green, hit the pin and spun back into the hazard.”
Stone dropped from the same spot but this time hit it to three feet and sank the putt for a triple.
“I birdied 11, dropped another one at the 12th, but I really just couldn’t get anything going on the back nine. I threw everything I had out there, I stayed positive, but it just wasn’t going to happen.”
Meanwhile Bolognesi did catch a break from Stone’s mid-round meltdown, the Italian put in some hard work of own, especially over the front nine.
After birdies at the second and fifth, the 20-year-old from Cervia near Bologna hit the front with a brace of birdies before the turn and nullified a drop at the 10th with a birdie at the 15th to finish with a four-under-par 68.
“It was a great round for me today, especially over the first nine holes,” he said. “I struggled a little to find birdies on the back nine, but tee to green, I played very well.
“I’m looking forward to the final round. The leaderboard is quite exciting and it is going to be a dog fight until the end, I think. Hopefully, I will be the top dog.”
Porteous birdied eight and nine for an outward loop of 32, birdied 12 but gave one back at the 13th for a third successive day and retaliated at the par-five 15th for a last birdie to slip into second on the leaderboard. “The leaderboard is very tight and there are at least 10 players that can still challenge for the title” the 17-year-old said.
“I hope, coming down the 18th, I’m the one with the one shot lead.”
Nenthunzi forced his way into the final group with a flawless 68, but it could have been better.
“I hit every green in regulation and the putter worked well, too, “ said the Gary Player School of Champions student.
“I left two birdies out there at the closing holes, though. I lipped out for a five-footer at 17 and left one in the jaws at 18. It was one of my best rounds recently and I will bring that same game on Friday.”
Ironically, these were the same two holes that caused Stone a whole lot of grief.
THIRD-ROUND SCORES:
207 - Andrea Bolognesi (ITA) 69 70 68
208 - Haydn Porteous 68 71 69
209 - Brandon Stone 66 68 75; Musiwalo Nethunzwi 71 70 68; Toby Tree (GBR) 71 69 69; Desne van den Bergh 69 70 70
211 - Filippo Bergamaschi (ITA) 73 69 69; Lionel Weber (FRA) 67 73 71
212 - Michael Loppnow 73 71 68
213 - Gert Myburgh 67 74 72; Christoff Els 72 70 71; Jacques Kruyswijk 73 70 70
214 - Rowan du Preez 72 71 71; Drikus Bruyns 72 72 70; Scott Crichton (GBR) 69 74 71
216 - Brian Soutar (GBR) 70 76 70; Callum Mowat 69 70 77
217 - Jacques Prinsloo 79 68 70; Francesco Laporta (ITA) 72 72 73; Mathieu Decottignies (FRA) 75 73 69
218 - JD Oosthuizen 69 71 78; Jamie Clare (GBR) 73 75 70; Sarel van der Walt 71 74 73; Gideon Pienaar 71 75 72
219 - Mark Mahoney 76 71 72; Jacquin Hess 74 70 75; Kenny Goosen 70 72 77; Victor Lange 69 78 72; Hano van der Walt 71 75 73; Oswin Schlenkrich 76 71 72; Shaun Smith 73 73 73
220 - Louis Taylor 74 73 73; Morten Bredahl 73 77 70; Delin Erasmus 75 73 72
221 - Cedric Rooi 72 74 75; Eddie Taylor 72 76 73; Zander Lombard 74 73 74; Kenny Subregis (FRA) 74 73 74; Werner Theart 77 73 71
222 - Jason Froneman 69 75 78; Fraser Mckenna (GBR) 72 77 73; Ryan Dreyer 73 75 74; Jacopo Vecchi Fossa (ITA) 73 76 73; Terence Boardman 76 73 73; James White (GBR) 75 75 72; NJ Arnoldi 76 74 72; Le Riche Ehlers 75 75 72; Waylon Kukard 75 74 73
223 Daniel Kay (GBR) 72 75 76; Johan Theron 72 75 76; Jonathan Raphunga 73 76 74; Hugo Delport 77 70 76
224 - Glen de Waal (NAM) 71 78 75; Stefan Rall 77 72 75; Paul de Beer 74 75 75; Olivier Rozner (FRA) 72 77 75; Hendrikus Stoop 72 76 76; Arnand Abbas (FRA) 76 72 76; Coert Groenewald 78 68 78; Jean-Claude van Dommelen 76 72 76
225 - Pierre Viviers 78 72 75; Andi Dill 74 75 76; Conway Kunneke 77 72 76; Nicholas Scher 71 73 81; Lourens Volschenk 72 70 83; Stefan Cronje 74 73 78
227 - Aubrey Barnard 74 74 79; Anton Steenkamp 73 77 77; Leonard Loxton 76 73 78
229 - Romano Saincic 71 76 82; Joubert van Eeden 75 75 79; Conor O'Neil (GBR) 70 80 79
230 - Wesley Baptiste 75 74 81
231 - Graham van den Berg 75 75 81
234 - Werner van Niekerk 71 79 84
Report Day 1
Report Day 2