Justin Harding fired a 64 to take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Magical Kenya Open.
The South African made an eagle, six birdies and a bogey to get to 16 under and leads the way from American pair Kurt Kitayama and Johannes Veerman, and Australian Scott Hend.
Harding was one of the form players in the world two years ago, claiming five wins in nine months and finishing second at this event to enter the world’s top 50 and earn an invitation to the Masters.
He has achieved just six top-10s since, slipping to world number 195, but put himself in pole position to claim a second European Tour victory in Nairobi.
“I’ll give it my best effort,” he told europeantour.com. “The golf course lends itself to a bunch of birdies. If you execute your golf shots and roll in a couple of putts you can certainly post a score.
“It’s just a matter of really taking advantage of the par fives and a couple of the driveable par fours and at the end of the day just being one shot better than the next guy. It’s just going to be a matter of executing plans and trying to get over the line.”
Harding turned in 32 with birdies on the first, third and sixth and led by two when he holed a wedge to eagle the par-four 10th and followed it with back-to-back gains. He gave a shot back on the 13th before birdieing the last.
Veerman broke the course record with a 62, while Kitayama carded a 66 and Hend signed for a 68 to sit a shot ahead of Scotland’s Calum Hill, who went round in 67.
Collated third round scores & totals in the European Tour Magical Kenya Open, Karen CC, Nairobi, Kenya (Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 71):
197 Justin Harding (Rsa) 66 67 64
199 Scott Hend (Aus) 67 64 68, Kurt Kitayama (USA) 67 66 66, Johannes Veerman (USA) 68 69 62
200 Calum Hill 65 68 67
202 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 68 68 66
203 Guido Migliozzi (Ita) 71 65 67, Jayden Schaper (Rsa) 68 70 65, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 65 66 72, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 68 64 71, Garrick Higgo (Rsa) 67 68 68, Connor Syme 65 67 71, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 65 71 67
204 Pep Angles (Spa) 70 67 67, Romain Langasque (Fra) 67 70 67, Dale Whitnell 66 70 68
205 Richard McEvoy 70 70 65, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 70 67 68, Sam Horsfield 65 71 69, Gavin Green (Mal) 68 69 68, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 67 69 69, Jamie Donaldson 69 67 69, Francesco Laporta (Ita) 70 67 68, Adrian Meronk (Pol) 65 73 67, Ricardo Santos (Por) 71 66 68, Sebastian Garcia (Spa) 67 70 68, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 68 72 65
206 Joost Luiten (Ned) 70 69 67, Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 68 69 69, Justin Walters (Rsa) 67 71 68, Ashley Chesters 71 68 67, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 68 68 70, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 65 68 73, Garrick Porteous 71 68 67, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 69 70 67, Lars van Meijel (Ned) 68 69 69, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 67 71 68, Louis de Jager (Rsa) 70 70 66
207 Wilco Nienaber (Rsa) 67 69 71, Aaron Rai 70 67 70, George Coetzee (Rsa) 72 66 69, Jordan Smith 68 70 69, Grant Forrest 73 66 68, Soeren Kjeldsen (Den) 67 69 71, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 66 72 69, Jack Senior 68 68 71
208 Marcel Schneider (Ger) 70 69 69, Benjamin Poke (Den) 69 70 69, Lorenzo Scalise (Ita) 72 68 68, Jens Fahrbring (Swe) 72 67 69, J. C. Ritchie (Rsa) 69 70 69
209 John Catlin (USA) 71 69 69, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 71 66 72, Richie Ramsay 67 65 77, Oliver Wilson 70 67 72, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 68 72 69, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 71 69 69, Toby Tree 67 73 69, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 71 68 70
210 Matt Ford 68 72 70, Matthew Southgate 66 69 75, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 70 70 70, Kyong-Jun Moon (Kor) 70 69 71, Scott Vincent (Zim) 68 71 71, Ben Evans 71 68 71
211 Ondrej Lieser (Cze) 72 68 71, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 64 72 75, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 70 70 71, Richard Bland 71 69 71, Darius van Driel (Ned) 69 71 71, Gregory Havret (Fra) 67 73 71, Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 73 66 72
212 Romain Wattel (Fra) 69 71 72
213 Damien Perrier (Fra) 68 71 74
214 Samuel Chege (Ken) 72 68 74
215 Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 70 70 75, Lee Slattery 71 69 75
