Dean Burmester has aspirations of becoming South Africa’s next Major champion, and on Saturday in the third round of the Dimension Data Pro-Am he showed the kind of game and mental strength that will get him there.
Burmester signed for a 63 on the Montagu course – including three eagles, with two of them coming on a back nine of 29 and on the par-four 11th and 16th holes – to put him only one shot off the 19-under-par lead of Germany’s Alexander Knappe going into Sunday’s final round. The German posted a 66 on the same course.
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“That was fun. It’s turned out pretty good. It was a good moving day. It was kind of surreal standing on the 17th tee and thinking I’ve had three eagles in this round, and after the start I had on Thursday here I am now in with a chance,” he said.
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Indeed, it’s a remarkable turnaround for Burmester after he made a triple bogey seven on the first hole on Thursday when he hit two tee shots out of bounds.
“I was still half asleep coming in jet-lagged from America (where he played in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the PGA Tour). Playing with Retief Goosen that first round certainly helped. He’s got one of the best mental games out there. He’s always had that. I fed off that and managed to keep grinding and finished that round under par.”
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After turning in two under for his round on Saturday, Burmester says he knew he needed something special to put him in with a chance of winning a tournament he’s always cherished and where he finished second in 2016.
“I thought I was going to have to have a good back nine to stand a chance in this tournament and I managed to throw in a 29 there.”
It was a back nine underpinned by those two eagles. On the par-four 11th he chipped in with a lob wedge, and on the par-four 16th he drove the green and holed a 25-foot putt.
“This is a tournament where I made my first cut as a professional, so I have great memories of this and hopefully on the back nine on Sunday I’ve got a chance.”
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He currently shares second place with New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier, who signed for a 63 on the Outeniqua course.
And ahead of them, Knappe is equally driven to claim a title in a part of the world he calls his second home.
“Fancourt is my home base in the winter. I practice here and I love it,” he said.
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