Shaun Norris will take a four-stroke lead into Sunday’s final round of the Joburg Open as he chases a third DP World Tour title and his second in just under three months.
Norris navigated his way superbly through some tricky third-round pin positions at Houghton Golf Club and signed for a 67 on Saturday to lead on 14-under par overall.
His nearest challengers are fellow South African Jacques Kruyswijk and Frenchman Adrien Saddier on 10-under. Kruyswijk, who finished fourth in the 2023 Joburg Open and who won his maiden DP World Tour title in February’s Magical Kenya Open, signed for a third round of 68. Saddier posted a third round of 70.
Norris was still suffering from the ear infection that has plagued him this week but it’s showing no signs of affecting his golf. He went into the third round just one shot clear of the field and that gap remained at the turn. But then Norris made three key birdies in five holes from the 10th to extend his lead.
“The ear is still blocked and I can’t hear out of it. It was a little bit sore but the doctor has given me some good pain pills. It hasn’t been bothering me on the golf course. But when my brother (his caddie) is on my left-hand side I can’t hear a thing he says to me,” he said.
“But I hit the ball nicely and gave myself some good chances. Overall I can’t complain about the round. There were some bad shots here and there, but that’s golf. It’s more about how you handle the rest of the round.”
With the final round to come, Norris has no intention of playing it safe on Sunday.
“It’s nice to lead by four but I want to win by 10 shots. So I’ll just keep going and change nothing.”
Behind him, Kruyswijk is relishing the final round challenge.
“I love chasing a leader. It’s why I play this game. I’m looking forward to a nice battle in the final round. Shaun’s playing some really good golf and it will take a lot to beat him,” said Kruyswijk, whose third round included a wedge holed out for eagle on the par-five 10th hole.
And Saddier is hoping for a few putts to drop early on as he also chases this title.
“If that happens, I can put a bit of pressure on the leader and I can have a good day,” he said.
Tickets for the Joburg Open are available at https://sunshinetour.com/tickets
Scores
196 - Shaun Norris 66 63 67
200 - Jacques Kruyswijk 65 67 68, Adrien Saddier 65 65 70
201 - Nicolai Von Dellingshausen 64 68 69
202 - Robin Williams 67 71 64, Jacob Olesen 65 72 65, Kieran Vincent 66 69 67, Daniel van Tonder 67 68 67, Jaco Ahlers 66 68 68, Daniel Brown 68 65 69, Ugo Coussaud 65 68 69
203 - Marcel Siem 70 66 67, Adrian Otaegui 69 67 67, Connor Syme 66 65 72
204 - Gerhard Pepler 69 67 68, Dylan Frittelli 65 70 69, Calum Hill 69 66 69, Callum Tarren 64 68 72
205 - Rhys Enoch 69 68 68, Brandon Robinson Thompson 68 68 69, Malcolm Mitchell 64 70 71, Wenyi Ding 63 69 73, Richard Mansell 65 67 73, Shubhankar Sharma 66 65 74
206 - Sam Bairstow 69 70 67, Pieter Moolman 69 70 67, Jeong Weon Ko 69 68 69, Thomas Aiken 70 66 70, Jordan Gumberg 71 64 71, Niklas Lemke 71 64 71, Todd Clements 68 67 71, Jayden Schaper 64 70 72, Joost Luiten 66 66 74
207 - Pierre Pineau 70 69 68, Luke Brown 69 69 69, Brandon Stone 67 70 70, Richie Ramsay 70 67 70, Hennie Otto 66 71 70, Marco Penge 64 69 74
208 - Nikhil Rama 68 71 69, Kyle Barker 69 70 69, Nathan Kimsey 68 70 70, Ryan Van Velzen 70 68 70, Romain Langasque 67 70 71, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia 69 68 71, Veer Ahlawat 73 63 72, Sean Crocker 67 68 73, Francesco Laporta 67 68 73
209 - Graham van der Merwe 71 68 70, Luke Jerling 71 68 70, Ryggs Johnston 70 68 71, Franklin Manchest 68 70 71, Jordan Smith 63 74 72, Jaco Van Zyl 67 70 72, Martin Rohwer 69 68 72, Bjorn Akesson 68 69 72, George Coetzee 67 69 73, Louis Albertse 67 68 74, Ben Schmidt 68 66 75, Maximilian Steinlechner 67 67 75
210 - Danny List 66 73 71, Martin Vorster 69 69 72
211 - Darius van Driel 69 70 72, Alexander Levy 67 71 73, Ewen Ferguson 69 69 73, Matthew Southgate 71 67 73, Andy Sullivan 70 68 73
212 - Jacques Blaauw 70 69 73, Kyle McClatchie 70 68 74, Jens Dantorp 71 67 74
213 - Michael Hollick 68 71 74, Gavin Green 65 72 76
214 - Zander Lombard 71 68 75, Jacques P de Villiers 70 69 75, Ross Fisher 68 70 76, Freddy Schott 70 68 76, Rhys West 66 68 80
221 - Benjamin Follett-Smith 69 70 82
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