The Southern Guards sent the home crowd delirious on Saturday as they moved two shots clear ahead of the final round at LIV Golf South Africa.
It was a day to remember for the four South Africans flying the Southern Guards flag. Well, to be fair they did it with plenty of support – be it from the 20 000 plus crowd in attendance, the group of current and former Springboks watching from the Lion’s Den and the huge TV audience cheering from their lounges across the country.
Twenty-six under par is some feat. It was a round littered with birdies and a near albatross from Branden Grace on the fourth hole. Of course, it included twenty or more fist bumps from Dean Burmester and some brilliant shot-making from Louis Oosthuizen. And then there’s the effort from Charl Schwartzel, who continues to play above himself considering the back pain he continues to deal with.
At the top of the individual standings, Grace is two back of Bryson DeChambeau with Abraham Ancer and Jon Rahm one further adrift.
Burmester isn’t out of it as he sits four back with just 18 chaotic holes at Steyn City to play.
It’s tough to decide who the day belonged to as DeChambeau fired a -7 round that was matched by Ancer, Rahm and Grace amongst others. Or was it the Southern Guards, who might sit two clear of Fireballs GC and Torque GC but they didn’t have it all their own way. At one point during the back nine, the home side were three back before hitting fifth gear over the closing holes.
But maybe, it was the sell out crowd. People just streamed into the course, and appeared never to stop arriving. Every marquee group had a swarm of spectators and the roars were as loud as you could get on the first tee, the 17th tee and the 18th green.
LIV Golf South Africa has delivered for three straight days. It has 18 holes to go … it will golf at high adrenaline and picking a winner at this point is far from certain.
It’s going to be a wild ride on Sunday, and that’s probably just the way LIV Golf fans want it.
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Article Link: Southern Guards two clear at LIV Golf South Africa