Shaun Norris took a knife to a gun fight at the Joburg Open where he emerged better off than his rivals as he stretched his overnight lead to four shots around the tricky Houghton layout on Saturday.
He overcame a lingering left ear infection and three dropped shots to fire a three-under-par 67 to finish on 14 under par overall heading into Sunday’s final round.
Frenchman Adrien Saddier and countryman Jacques Kruyswijk, winner of the Kenya Open last month, were tied for second on 10 under.
Kruyswijk carded a modest-looking 68, but his round featured three birdies, an eagle and a handful of missed birdie putts, suggesting he could be Norris’s biggest threat in the fourth round. But Norris will be a tough target to hit given his form Saturday and his ability to bounce back from trouble.
“Hit the ball nicely, gave myself some good chances,” said Norris.
“Overall, can’t complain about the round,” said Norris, on painkillers for his ear, which has been blocked for a few days now. So my caddie, my brother, if he’s on my left-hand side, I don’t hear anything he says to me.”
But his affliction didn’t dampen his desire to claim what would be his third victory on the DP World Tour.
“I want to win by 10, so let’s keep going … Nothing’s changing. Carry on, do exactly what I’ve been doing in the last couple of days.”
On a tight tree-lined course where management is everything, Norris started out with sensible caution on the opening hole, a par-four that is reachable with driver for many in the field.
His two playing partners hauled out their cannons, Saddier pushing his effort right and Scotsman Connor Syme drifting left, but Norris used his three-iron and placed the ball middle of the fairway.
Then he knocked his approach stiff from 88 yards, leaving himself with a tap-in birdie to establish himself atop the leaderboard. “Quite a fun number. I like 90, my favourite number.”
Saddier managed par, but Syme dropped a shot.
When Norris used his driver on the third — a hole that is rated a par five for regular members — he landed in the thicker rough on the right, from where his shot curled right into a greenside bunker. He needed two shots to get out the sand and then two putts to complete the hole for a double.
But Norris retaliated immediately with two straight birdies and then notched off five pars in a row before nailing three birdies in the space of four holes to press his advantage.
When Norris used his driver on 15 he pulled his shot behind a tree on the left. He punched out and then got onto the green and two-putted to limit the damage to one shot.
“You’re not going to be perfect all the time. You’re going to hit some bad shots here and there, but it’s how you handle the rest of the round.”
Saddier, who also found trees on the 15th, had to settle for double bogey, surrendering Norris more space at the top.
Kruyswijk was hoping to be in the final group with Norris on Sunday. “We can have a nice battle out there,” he said with a smile.
“It was a bit of a grind,” he said. “I felt like I left a lot of shots out there, a couple of putts brushed past … If I [get] a couple in tomorrow, I’m looking forward to it.”
The biggest mover of the day was Robin Williams, firing a flawless six-under-par 64 to finish the round on eight under in a seven-way tie for fifth spot. He eagled the first hole, driving into the greenside bunker and then splashing in.
“Obviously this morning was a lot easier than they probably had it yesterday afternoon and the day before. The greens were a lot better, it wasn’t so much traffic on them.
“And then the wind was basically non-existent on the front nine, so I was able to take good advantage of that.”
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