Bryce Easton heads into Sunday’s final round of the Cell C Cape Town Open in association with Honor in a five-way tie for the lead and determined to use the opportunity to start playing his way back onto the DP World Tour.
On a tricky day at the Royal Cape Golf Club where a swirling wind certainly caught the attention of the leading campaigners, Easton produced a composed 67 to share the lead on 11-under par.
Italy’s Filippo Celli, who has led from the first round, joined him with a level-par 72. And American Matt Oshrine (66), England’s Jamie Rutherford (67) and Spain’s Borja Virto (71) all took their place on 11 under as well.
They are two strokes clear of England’s George Bloor, South Africa’s Justin Walters and Lyle Rowe, Zimbabwe’s Benjamin Follett-Smith and Italy’s Stefano Mazzoli.
Daniel van Tonder’s dreams of a hat-trick of victories on this Sunshine Tour and HotelPlanner Tour stretch are also still a likelihood as he starts the final round three shots off the lead.
There is plenty at stake for so many of the leaders and none more so than Easton who is hunting his first victory on the Sunshine Tour since 2018.
“I’m looking to get back into the winner’s circle, for sure and to get my card back on the DP World Tour again. I’ve had a couple of quiet years with a baby boy being born but I feel like a lot of that has settled down now and I’m able to shift back into golf mode fulltime and chase trying to get back to where I was a couple of years ago,” he said.
His love of this golf course show through in 2022 when he finished third in this tournament and Easton believes his understanding of this venerable layout was key to him working his way into contention.
“As we got out there in the third round and the wind was swirling a bit all over the place, I knew it was going to be tricky. I said to my caddie that if we’re finding it tough to get this wind right then everybody else will be doing the same. It’s just a matter of hanging in there, hitting it in the right places and trying not to give shots away.
“But this golf course rewards good shots, especially if the wind is blowing. That suits me. I’m also quite good at reading these greens. For some reason here I seem to pick a couple of the subtle breaks. I seem to be very comfortable with my reads here. So we’ll see what direction the wind blows on the final day. But that’s what’s great about this golf course – it changes every day with the wind.”
Scores
205 - Matt Oshrine 69 70 66, Bryce Easton 72 66 67, Jamie Rutherford 69 69 67, Borja Virto 67 67 71, Filippo Celli 66 67 72
207 - George Bloor 71 71 65, Lyle Rowe 71 68 68, Benjamin Follett-Smith 72 66 69, Justin Walters 68 70 69, Stefano Mazzoli 71 66 70
208 - Baard Skogen 72 69 67, JC Ritchie 70 71 67, Danie Van Niekerk 71 69 68, Adri Arnaus 75 65 68, Sam Jones 70 69 69, David Law 71 67 70, Christoffer Bring 70 68 70, Daniel van Tonder 69 67 72
209 - Daniel Young 73 69 67, Lars van Meijel 70 72 67, Sam Hutsby 72 70 67, Keenan Davidse 70 71 68, Pieter Moolman 73 68 68, Ethan Smith 74 66 69, Christiaan Burke 73 67 69, Lucas Vacarisas 71 68 70, Calum Fyfe 69 70 70, Michael Hollick 71 68 70, Jean Hugo 71 66 72
210 - Kyle McClatchie 71 71 68, Hayden Hopewell 72 69 69, Jovan Rebula 74 66 70, Felix Mory 71 68 71, Jonathan Broomhead 72 66 72, Vince van Veen 71 67 72, JJ Senekal 71 66 73
211 - Martin Vorster 71 71 69, Nikhil Rama 72 70 69, Michael Feuerstein 76 65 70, Nick Carlson 72 67 72, Rhys West 70 68 73
212 - Quim Vidal 75 66 71, CJ du Plessis 72 69 71, Lukas Nemecz 73 67 72, Hennie Otto 73 67 72, Ricky Hendler 70 69 73, Chris Paisley 70 69 73
213 - Jonathan Caldwell 72 70 71, Palmer Jackson 73 69 71, Sebastian Friedrichsen 75 67 71, Jack Hawksby 73 69 71
214 - Daan Huizing 72 70 72, Luke Jerling 74 68 72, Rhys Enoch 69 72 73, Fredrik From 71 70 73, Malcolm Mitchell 67 69 78
215 - Jacques Blaauw 70 72 73, Lorenzo Scalise 76 66 73, Matthis Besard 75 66 74, Euan Walker 72 68 75, Sebastien Gros 80 60 75
216 - Brandon Gildenhuys 72 70 74, Maxence Giboudot 70 72 74
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