History making Andersen moves to 51st in SA Open

What you need to know:

  • World number two Rory McIlroy remained in hot pursuit of the title after a third-round 67 left him second, three shots behind leader Graeme Storm.
  • Englishman Storm also carded a five-under 67 at Glendower Golf Club in Johannesburg for a total of 199 with McIlroy from Northern Ireland on 202 in the European Tour event.
  • South African Jbe Kruger carded a 69 and Englishman Jordan Smith a 66 to share third place on 203.

History making Stefan Andersen moved to 51st place after a two under par 70 for a three rounds total of three under par 213 in the BMW South Africa Open at Glendower Golf Club in Gauteng, South Africa on Saturday.

Starting from the back nine, the Kenyan professional picked up birdies on the 12th and 13th to move to the first nine with a clean sheet.

He started off well picking up an early birdie at the second and bogeyed the fourth and seventh though he managed to pull one back at the eighth.

World number two Rory McIlroy remained in hot pursuit of the title after a third-round 67 left him second, three shots behind leader Graeme Storm.

Englishman Storm also carded a five-under 67 at Glendower Golf Club in Johannesburg for a total of 199 with McIlroy from Northern Ireland on 202 in the European Tour event.

South African Jbe Kruger carded a 69 and Englishman Jordan Smith a 66 to share third place on 203.

The lowest score of the day was a course record-equalling 63 from Italian Edoardo Molinari, including nine birdies, which matched the second-round score of Storm.

Molinari is among six title challengers on 204, five shots off the pace set by Storm.

McIlroy, a four-time major winner who trails Australian Jason Day in the world rankings, had the large gallery which followed him buzzing when he eagled the eighth.

A long, straight drive at a parkland course littered with water hazards was followed by mid-iron second that dropped just past the pin, then trickled back into the hole.

The 27-year-old Irishman, who suffered back pain during the second round, raised his arms in delight against a backdrop of thunderous applause.

He turned in three-under 33 and after picking up three consecutive birdies from 11, slightly stained his scorecard by bogeying the final hole for the second straight round.

McIlroy is experimenting with clubs from three manufacturers after Nike, with whom he had a multimillion-dollar deal, pulled out of the equipment market

While the stunning length of some drives by the Irishman had spectators gasping, he was also wayward occasionally, requiring some skilful recoveries from thick, tree-surrounded rough.

Storm saw his lead over McIlroy dwindle to one shot several times, but the golfer ranked 251 in the world, held his nerve to increase his second-round lead by one stroke.

He did not drop a shot while picking up three birdies on the outward journey and another two coming back.

At the top, three English players Graeme Storm, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Smith denied the South Africans the lead as Storm fired a clean five under par 67 round to maintain his lead on 17 under par 199 going into today’s final round of the 15 million rand PGA European Tour sanctioned event.

McIlroy moved to the second place also with a 67 for a total of 14 under par 202 while Jordan carded 68 for 13 under par 203.

He however shared the third place with so far the best South African Jbe’ Kruger who shot 69 to also close the day on 13 under par.

J'BURG OPEN

Two other South Africans Dean Burmester and Jaco Van Zyl were on 12 under par. Surprisingly, some of the big names in the PGA Tour including one of the best players South Africa ever produced Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, and other well known professionals like former Kenya Open champions Ricaldo Gonzalez and Marc Cayeux as well as Darren Clarke and England’s Sir Nick Faldo did not make to the money list.

With his brilliant performance this weekend, the Kenyan pro Stefan Andersen is likely to feature in the 16,500,000 million rand Joburg Open and the 18,500,000 million Tswane Open both PGA European Tour sanctioned events in February and March.