Ryder Cup skipper Donald is still very much in the Nedbank hunt in Sun City
Luke Donald stayed in contention at the Nedbank Golf Challenge after battling his way to a oneover-par 73 to sit two shots off the pace after a long and actionpacked Saturday in Sun City.
The field faced an early start to complete round two after bad weather on Friday and it was European Ryder Cup captain Donald and Richard Bland out in front at halfway.
But while they slipped back – Bland shot 75 – Thomas Detry and Rasmus Hojgaard climbed to the top of the leaderboard.
Detry produced a blistering start and finish to his third round to sign for a five-under-par 67. That took him to nine-under for the week, alongside Hojgaard, who carded a 69.
Thriston Lawrence and Branden Grace were a shot back while Christiaan Bezuidenhout joined Donald on seven-under.
Belgian Detry started with two birdies and finished with three-in-a-row.
He holed putts at the fourth and seventh with a combined length of almost 80 feet and said: “Putting has been key. I struggled on the greens the first day and I’ve managed to find some great confidence and I’m seeing them roll in.
“We’ll see what Sunday brings, I’m really excited. I’m playing some really confident golf, I’m hitting all of my targets, driving it well and putting well, so not much really can go wrong.”
Hojgaard said: “I’ll just try to stay as calm as possible tomorrow. Don’t try to force anything. If I can have a clear focus and not try to hit difficult types of shots, try to keep it simple as possible, I’ve got
a good feeling.”
Ryan Fox, who will overtake Rory McIlroy at the top of the DP World Tour Rankings if he wins, shot levelpar to sit at six-under alongside Tommy Fleetwood and Shubhankar Sharma.
Richie Ramsay leads the Scots at five-under after a 71, Scott Jamieson is one further back in a share of 17th, with David Law and Ewen Ferguson both at three-under.
Bob Macintyre and Connor Syme share 39th spot on two-over-par.
▪ Kiradech Aphibarnrat turned on the style as a seven-underpar round of 64 earned him the second-round lead at DP World Tour Qualifying School – Final Stage.
The 34-year-old carded seven birdies without a blemish on the Lakes Course to reach 10-underpar, one stroke clear of English duo Ross McGowan and Daniel Brown, as well as Iceland’s Gudmundur Kristjansson.
There are still four rounds of the marathon Final Stage event to play at INFINITUM but Aphibarnat, a four-time DP World Tour winner, is the man who holds a narrow advantage after 36 holes.
Five players, including English amateur Callan Barrow, share fifth place on eight-under-par, with a further four players a shot further back in a tie for 10th.
Liam Johnston is the top Scot on five-under in a tie for 22nd. Craig Howie is in 66th on oneunder, Michael Stewart is a shot further back in 80th spot, while Craig Ross is in a share of 103rd on two-over-par.
Former Ryder Cup man, and four-time Tour winner, Stephen Gallacher is languishing in 118th spot on three-over.