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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Alexander Knappe leads into final round of Jonsson Workwear Open

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Johannesburg — On a day of rain and delayed tee times, having no strategy proved to be the best strategy for Germany’s Alexander Knappe as he claimed the lead in the Jonsson Workwear Open headed into Sunday’s final round at The Club at Steyn City.

When the third round finally teed off at 11am, Knappe decided to just see where his golf takes him on a difficult day. The result was a solid 65 for a one-stroke lead on 17 under par.

“I had no strategy to be honest. I just played golf and waited to see how it ended up. No strategy,” he said. “It was great work. I made one bogey out there but I am only human so I can’t be too hard on myself. There was no roll on the fairways but you could go for every pin because it was so soft.”

Knappe has won before in South Africa in last year’s Dimension Data Pro-Am, which was co-sanctioned with the European Challenge Tour. But Sunday’s final round will be a new experience for him at DP World Tour level. “It’s my first time leading a big event. I’ll see how I prepare for that mentally. But I’m just enjoying that feeling right now.”

South Africa’s Hennie du Plessis, Swede Joakim Lagergren, Malaysia’s Gavin Green and Germany’s Nick Bachem are his nearest challengers on 16 under par.

Lagergren stormed through the field with an incredible 63 that was made even more remarkable by the fact that he never dropped a single shot in the wet conditions.

“I played really well today, especially my iron shots. It was a different course today and played longer because it was so wet. But I kept the bogeys off the card. It’s been a while since I’ve been bogey free,” he said.

South African Du Plessis also managed to go bogey free during his round of 65 and is delighted to be in contention going into the final round.

“When you’re in the mix it’s always a fun feeling. I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “It was hard work today. With all the delays this morning I knew we’d have to be patient out there. It’s so wet so you had to hit fairways and quality iron shots. The pins were also tucked away a little bit.”

But this golf course does set up well for Du Plessis, and he’s looking to take even more advantage of that in the final round.

“I enjoy this layout. The wide fairways and slopey greens are nice to play. Standing up there and hitting a good drive is great, and then when you’re a good mid-iron player it’s a fun course to play.”

Scores:

199 — Alexander Knappe 68 66 65

200 — Joakim Lagergren 65 72 63, Hennie du Plessis 69 66 65, Gavin Green 66 67 67, Nick Bachem 65 66 69

201 — Ewen Ferguson 66 69 66, Martin Vorster 64 69 68, Romain Langasque 68 64 69

202 — Ockie Strydom 69 64 69

203 — Zander Lombard 68 69 66, Sebastian Soderberg 65 69 69, Hennie O’Kennedy 65 69 69, Marcel Schneider 68 65 70, Julien Brun 67 66 70

204 — Martin Simonsen 66 71 67, Daniel Brown 69 68 67, Jacques Kruyswijk 68 68 68, Wilco Nienaber 67 69 68, Louis Albertse 69 66 69, Sami Valimaki 67 65 72

205 — Mikko Korhonen 67 70 68, Keenan Davidse 69 68 68, Ross Fisher 69 67 69, Julien Guerrier 70 66 69, Mikael Lindberg 69 67 69, Hurly Long 67 71 67, Matthieu Pavon 74 65 66, Kalle Samooja 68 65 72

206 — Benjamin Follett-Smith 67 70 69, Wynand Dingle 68 69 69, Jamie Donaldson 68 69 69, Jbe’ Kruger 68 68 70, Matthew Baldwin 68 68 70, Kristian Krogh Johannessen 70 68 68, Jayden Schaper 66 69 71, Joost Luiten 67 68 71, Alejandro Del Rey 72 67 67

Michael Vlismas — Sunshine Tour

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