Alfred Dunhill Championship: Pablo Larrazabal maintains cushion in South Africa

Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal has maintained a three-shot lead following the third round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa.

Pablo Larrazabal carded a two-under round 70 on Saturday at Leopard Creek to move to -11, thanks to five birdies and three bogeys in the penultimate round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

The Spaniard will go into the final round looking for a fifth European Tour title, having won the BMW International Open twice, along with the Open de France and the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. However, he has gone more than four years without success.

Larrazabal leads by three from Wil Besseling, the Dutchman who led the tournament after the first round. Three birdies on the back nine saw Besseling fight back into 2nd spot, after a couple of bogeys on his front nine.

A shot further back sits the leading South African at the tournament, Branden Grace. A bogey on his final hole saw him drop down from a tie for second and into solo third, but Grace remains in contention with 18 holes left to play.

Arguably the final two men still in with a shot on Sunday are Marcus Armitage and Zander Lombard. The latter is the second South African inside the top five, while the Englishman is featuring in his very first European Tour event, and he pulled off a blinder of an approach on the par-5 18th on Saturday afternoon.

Four-time Alfred Dunhill Championship winner Charl Schwartzel is among those at -4, seven shots behind the leader. Also in that group are Adrian Otaegui, Joel Sjoholm and MJ Viljoen.

American Johannes Veerman rounds out the top ten. He sits alone at -3, with Justin Harding, Laurie Canter and Gregory Havret all a further shot back.

Only 16 men are under par going into the final round, with last year’s runner-up David Drysdale, England’s Jack Singh Brar and Poland’s Adrian Meronk the trio at -1.

Nine more golfers currently stand at level par, with the likes of Eddie Pepperell, George Coetzee, and Richard Sterne all there. Amateur Jayden Trey Schaper is also in that group at level par, inside the top 20.

For the likes of Edoardo Molinari and Ernie Els, glory will not be coming their way this week, as they sit over-par and out of contention. However, it was a terrible third round for England’s Ross Fisher. He birdied the 2nd, but after that, there were eight bogeys and a double bogey over the final 16 holes of his round.

Back at the top though, and it will be Larrazabal and Besseling that tee off in the final group at 11:55 local time (GMT+2), with the Spaniard taking a three shot lead into the final 18 at Leopard Creek.

Will it be one of those two, or can Grace or Lombard take the victory on home soil? Or could it be the dream start to life as a European Tour golfer for Marcus Armitage? Play starts at 06:15 local time on Sunday morning.

Alfred Dunhill Championship 2019 Leaderboard:

1 (-11): Pablo Larrazabal (ESP)

2 (-8): Wil Besseling (NED)

3 (-7): Brendan Grace (RSA)

T4 (-5): Marcus Armitage (ENG), Zander Lombard (RSA)

T6 (-4): Adrian Otaegui (ESP), Charl Schwartzel (RSA), MJ Viljoen (RSA), Joel Sjoholm (SWE)

Selected Others:

T11 (-2): Justin Harding (RSA), Gregory Havret (FRA)

T14 (-1): Jack Singh Brar (ENG), David Drysdale (SCO)

T17 (E): Eddie Pepperell (ENG), George Coetzee (RSA), Jayden Trey Schaper (A, RSA)

T26 (+1): Benjamin Poke (DEN), Calum Hill (SCO)

T34 (+2): Clement Sordet (FRA), Alejandro Canizares (ESP)

T37 (+3): Edoardo Molinari (ITA), Jeff Winther (DEN), Haydn Porteous (RSA)

T55 (+6): Adrien Saddier (FRA), Ernie Els (RSA)