Sunshine Tour rookie Warwick Purchase turned up the heat on a cold day at Glendower Golf Club with a third round of 10-under-par 62 that earned him a three-stroke lead in the Fortress Invitational.
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Purchase heads the field on 17 under par following a round which included a front nine of 28 and featured a total of nine birdies, an eagle and one bogey.
His nearest challenger is Kyle Barker on 14 under par following his third round of 66, with Daniel van Tonder (69) and Tyrone Ryan (68) on 12 under par.
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It was an incredible day of golf with Purchase’s 62 and both Barker and Ryan scoring holes-in-one. Barker aced the 201-metre par-three eighth hole with a seven iron, while Ryan holed out with a gap wedge on the 125-metre par -three fifth hole.
“Today’s round was pretty insane and probably the best of my life, especially that front-nine,” said Purchase.
“I wasn’t thinking too much and was just hitting golf shots. The next minute I shot 28 on the front nine. I also managed to keep it really solid on the back nine, which was playing a bit tougher. Overall, it was a good day where my mindset was perfect.”
Purchase missed the cut in his last four tournaments before this. And after a second round of 71 he also put in even more work on his game, which showed on Saturday.
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“I didn’t have a great putting round on Friday so I did quite a bit of practice after the round. My swing also fell into a nice groove today and I decided to be a bit braver and play more aggressively.”
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Currently ranked in the top 10 on the Fortress Rookie of the Year standings, Purchase is preparing himself for the new experience of leading a Sunshine Tour event going into the final round.
“It’s foreign territory for me on the Sunshine Tour, so I think a little bit of thought needs to go into my gameplan and on how I will handle the nerves, as there will definitely be some. I’ll be playing with two big names on the Sunshine Tour – Daniel (Van Tonder) and Kyle (Barker) – so the goal will be to get myself into my own little bubble and not worry about what’s going on around me.”
