Lombard keeps lead at Nedbank Challenge; Kiwi Lee sets early pace in Mexico

Overnight leader, South Africa’s Zander Lombard recovered from a poor start to shoot a level-par 72 and retain the lead after the third round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge at the Gary Player Country Club on Saturday.

Lombard’s 11-under-par total of 205 saw him one shot ahead of compatriot Louis Oosthuizen (71) and Belgium’s Thomas Detry (69).

On a day when sub-70 scores were rare, Oliver Wilson of England soared up the leaderboard with a five-under-par 67 to share fourth place on eight-under with Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult (70).

Chasing a first prize of $2.5 million, Lombard saw his overnight two-shot lead disappear when he dropped three shots over the first eight holes, largely because of erratic tee shots on a demanding course. But birdies on successive par-fives at 10 and 11 started his fightback.

Lombard, who lost his European Tour card in 2017 and had to survive qualifying school last year to regain his status, has yet to win on the tour.

If he can close out the win it will almost treble the career earnings of a player ranked 234th in the world. A finish in the top eight will earn him a place in next week’s season-ending Tour championship in Dubai. Detry is also seeking a first win and for much of the round he maintained what he described as “stress-free” golf, in contrast to his rollercoaster second round when he suffered five penalty strokes in making 71.

Successive birdies at 10 and 11 put Detry in a three-way tie with Lombard and Oosthuizen before a magnificent 190-yard iron shot from a fairway bunker set up a birdie at the 13th to put him in the lead on his own.

At that stage he was the only player in the field not have dropped a shot during the round.

But a pulled tee shot on the par-five 14th bounced off a cart path into thick bush and Detry was forced to play three off the tee for the third time in two days.

He made a double-bogey seven, while both Lombard and Oosthuizen made birdies to be two ahead of the Belgian.

Detry fought back with superb iron shots to birdie the next two holes before he drove into a fairway bunker on the 18th hole, leading to another dropped shot.

Wilson said he was delighted with his round, which was bettered on the day only by Scottish rookie Robert MacIntyre, who shot 65 to climb into a tie for 21st place.

Meanwhile, Wilson’s breaks included a chip-in at 15 and a long birdie putt at 17 which looked set to miss narrowly on the right of the hole before deviating off a pitch mark and going in.

Defending champion Lee Westwood had a solid round of 69 to move into a five-way tie for sixth place on 210. Also on six-under was Race to Dubai leader Bernd Wiesberger, who fired a 70.

Elsewhere in Mexico, New Zealand’s Danny Lee, seeking his first US PGA Tour title in more than four years, fired a nine-under par 62 Friday to grab the early first-round lead at the Mayakoba Classic.

The 29-year-old South Korean-born player made eight birdies and an eagle against a lone bogey in jumping to the top of the leaderboard among the early starters at Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

American Vaughn Taylor was second in the clubhouse on 64 with much of the field yet to tee off.

Thursday’s scheduled opening round was rained out.

Lee opened with a birdie, made another at the par-3 fourth and then eagled the par-5 fifth hole before running off a streak of three birdies in a row from the sixth through eighth holes.

Lee ran off another three in a row from the 11th to par-5 13th holes before a three-putt bogey at 14 and four closing pars.

Agence France-Presse