South Africa’s Justin Harding is in pole position to claim back-to-back titles on the same course in the space of six days after opening up a three-shot lead in the Kenya Savannah Classic.
Harding won the Magical Kenya Open at Karen Country Club on Sunday and continued his love affair with the venue by compiling rounds of 64, 66 and 66 to reach 17 under par.
There is a large chasing pack poised behind the 35-year-old, with compatriots Daniel van Tonder and Darren Fichardt, England’s Marcus Armitage, Scotland’s David Drysdale, Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan and Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond all on 14 under.
The remaining Irish challengers in the field, Jonathan Caldwell and Cormac Sharvin, both carded rounds of 70 on Friday.
Caldwell is 10 under par for the tournament and sits in a share of 27th place, with Sharvin further down the leaderboard on six under.
After a round containing eight birdies and three bogeys, Harding said: “Maybe it’s a bit of a surprise to be three clear because I feel like I struggled a bit out there.
“I couldn’t seem to give myself a good number from the fairway and when you’re playing at altitude sometimes it’s hard to get the club selection right.
“After I bogeyed 14 unnecessarily it was anyone’s game, I was just happy with the way I finished (with three birdies in the last four holes) and I just gave myself a chance.”
Reitan had looked set to be contesting the lead when he raced to the turn in 29 and also birdied the 10th and 11th, but then dropped four shots in the space of four holes from the 13th.
Drysdale is seeking a first European Tour win in his 519th event and kept himself firmly in the hunt with a birdie on the last following dropped shots on the 15th and 16th in his 69.
“Justin’s obviously doing great and I told him just there to give us all a chance tomorrow,” Drysdale said.
“He’s playing very steadily and obviously loves this place but we’ve got to take advantage of those holes six to 12. There are three or four eagle chances in that part of the golf course.”
Collated third round scores & totals in the European Tour Kenya Savannah Classic (Britain and Irl unless stated, Par 71):
196 Justin Harding (Rsa) 64 66 66
199 Kristoffer Reitan (Nor) 69 65 65, David Drysdale 65 65 69, Marcus Armitage 65 67 67, Daniel van Tonder (Rsa) 65 64 70, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 66 68 65, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 65 66 68
200 Sam Horsfield 66 68 66, Calum Hill 67 68 65, Louis de Jager (Rsa) 71 65 64, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 66 66 68, Ashley Chesters 67 68 65
201 Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 67 66 68, James Morrison 70 65 66, Darius van Driel (Ned) 70 62 69, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 69 68 64, Garrick Porteous 69 68 64, Liam Johnston 66 69 66
202 Steven Brown 68 67 67, Joost Luiten (Ned) 64 68 70, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 66 70 66, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 67 64 71, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 66 65 71, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 64 71 67, Toby Tree 67 71 64, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 70 64 68
203 Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 66 71 66, Jonathan Caldwell 65 68 70, Lee Slattery 66 68 69, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 70 67 66, Rhys Enoch 67 67 69
204 Julien Guerrier (Fra) 70 64 70, Jack Senior 67 69 68, Sebastian Garcia (Spa) 70 67 67, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 67 69 68, Clement Sordet (Fra) 64 70 70, Matthiam Keyser (Rsa) 65 70 69, Ondrej Lieser (Cze) 72 66 66
205 Sebastian Soederberg (Swe) 68 67 70, Richie Ramsay 71 66 68, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 67 70 68, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 68 69 68, Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 66 69 70, Hurly Long (Ger) 69 65 71, Jayden Schaper (Rsa) 69 67 69, Aaron Rai 70 68 67, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 68 70 67
206 Romain Langasque (Fra) 67 65 74, Wil Besseling (Ned) 67 69 70, Scott Vincent (Zim) 67 67 72, Lorenzo Scalise (Ita) 70 66 70, Jens Fahrbring (Swe) 67 69 70, Soeren Kjeldsen (Den) 74 64 68
207 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 69 69 69, Julian Suri (USA) 66 70 71, Cormac Sharvin 65 72 70, Ben Evans 68 68 71, Emilio Cuartero (Spa) 66 70 71, Nicolai von Dellingshausen (Ger) 70 68 69, Daniel Young 73 65 69
208 David Howell 70 67 71, Ricardo Santos (Por) 68 68 72, David Coupland 70 68 70, Lars van Meijel (Ned) 68 68 72, David Wakhu (Ken) 66 68 74, Scott Hend (Aus) 66 70 72, Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 69 68 71
209 Svn-Hwan Kim (Kor) 68 70 71
210 Dale Whitnell 70 67 73, Martin Leth Simonsen (Den) 70 68 72
212 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 68 70 74
213 Ross McGowan 65 71 77, Daan Huizing (Ned) 68 70 75
