The array of South African golfers who participate worldwide certainly lit up the Springbok rugby team’s great performance against the Wallabies at Loftus Versfeld when they also blew hot.
In the LIV tournament, which is played at the Centurion Country Club outside London, Louis Oosthuizen caught fire with eight birdies in the second round and is just three shots behind the leader Cam Smith (Australia) who finished at -12.
Oosthuizen is together with another Australian Marc Leishman and Thomas Pieters (Belgium) in second place at -9.
Dean Burmester and Charl Schwartzel are tied at -5 and Branden Grace at -4.
The South African Stinger team (-22) is just one stroke behind the Ripper team (-23) with the 4-Aces (-19) third.
* Garrick Higgo did drop back slightly to joint 16th position in the third round of the American PGA Golf Series’ money-rich John Deere Classic tournament played at TPC Deer Run in Illinois, although he is only five shots behind the leader.
Higgo shot 71 after his 65 and 66 in the first two rounds. He is at 202 (-11).
The American Brendon Todd is ahead on 197 shots (-16) followed by his compatriots Adam Schenk, Denny McCarthy and Alex Smylie (198, -15) with Peter Kuest on 199 (-14).
South Africa’s MJ Daffue is joint in 32nd position on 204 (-9).
* In the US Women’s Open played at Pebble Beach in California, South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai shot 72 in the third round, but is tied for 38th overall at 222 (+6).
The Japanese Nasa Hataoka leads on 209 strokes (-7) followed by Allisen Corpuz of America (210, -6).
She is followed by Hyo-Joo Kim (Korea) and Bailey Tardy (America) at 212 (-4) with Ji-Yai Shin and Hae-Ran Ryu (both Korea), at 214 (-2).
* In the European series and DP World Tour’s Made in Himmerland tournament decided in Himmerland in Denmark, Hennie du Plessis scored 63 shots in the third round and rose to 11th position (203, -7).
The Spaniard Ignacio Elvira (197, -13) is one stroke ahead of the Scot Robert MacIntyre (198, -12) with his compatriot Richie Ramsay (199, -11) and a third Scot Marc Warren together with Daan Huizing (Netherlands) in fourth 201 (-9).
Of the other South Africans, Darren Fichardt (204, -06), Daniel van Tonder and Bryce Easton (both 206), Justin Walters (207), Thomas Aiken (210) and Louis de Jager (211) did the best.
