South Africa’s Kyle de Beer and England’s Joe Sullivan are locked in a race to their first Sunshine Tour titles as they head into Sunday’s final round of the Rwanda Open tied for the lead at the Kigali Golf Resort and Villas.
Related: Joe Sullivan’s sizzling 60 gives him Rwanda Open lead
In a weather-interrupted third round on Saturday, De Beer signed for a 66 and Sullivan a 68 to tie for the lead on 19 under par. They are one stroke clear of the South African duo of Cole Stevens and Estiaan Conradie.
Sullivan started the day with a one-shot lead but his bogey-free round was not enough to stave off the challenge from De Beer.
“I’m very happy with how the day went,” said De Beer.
“I didn’t hit the ball exactly how I would’ve liked. I was a little bit shaky off the tee especially, and I had a couple of iffy lies to play out of the rough quite a few times. But I managed that quite well today, which was nice. The iron play and the short game was really solid which was cool. I was able to benefit from that, and to make a nice putt to finish was a big bonus.”
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With 11 top-10 finishes in his career already, De Beer is hungry to claim that first victory.
But he admits he cannot afford to even think that far ahead, especially on a golf course where the Sunshine Tour professionals have been rewarded for aggressive golf.
“I definitely think being tied for the lead doesn’t really mean much at this event because everybody’s going to be making so many birdies around you that you can’t really worry about what your score is. You’re just going to have to put your head down and carry on what you’re doing, otherwise you’re just going to get lapped. I’m not going to change my gameplan much because I can’t afford to.
“There’s a long way to go before I can even start thinking of a first win. I need to just make sure that I manage all the little things well and have a solid warm-up before the final round and make sure I take it shot-by-shot and keep myself in the moment. We’ll see where that puts me at the end of the day. I won’t gain anything by worrying about winning or hitting certain scores. I think all I can do is manage it shot-by-shot and see where that finishes at the end of the day.”
Fortress Rookie of the Year leader Benjamin Kedochim is also in contention and heads into the final round just three shots off the lead.
