Kieran Vincent holed a putt for eagle after driving the green on the par-four 15th hole and then birdied two of the last three holes to grab a share of the lead after the third round of the KitKat Cash & Carry Pro-Am at Irene Country Club on Saturday.
Related: Flawless James Mack the talking point at Irene Country Club
Vincent’s brilliant finish saw him come home in six-under-par 30 on the back nine, lifting him to a 67 in the penultimate round, and 15-under-par overall, tied for the lead with James Mack, who could only shoot level-par 72 on Saturday.
Vincent was in a tie for third going into the weekend, fully five strokes behind Mack, and a double-bogey at the par-four third hole and a bogey at the par-three seventh saw the Zimbabwean reach the turn on one-over-par and seemingly left with a mountain to climb to catch Mack.
But the 26-year-old Vincent birdied the par-four 11th and 14thholes, before his stunning drive on the 308m 15th set up the eagle that catapulted him up the leaderboard.
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Dropped shots on the 12th, 14th and 16th holes were the pivot for Mack being caught by Vincent, but the 25-year-old England-based South African still managed to shoot level-par in the end thanks to a birdie-birdie finish, having earlier picked up shots on the 11th and 15th holes.
KZN’s Martin Rohwer was in second place after the first two rounds, but he slipped back into a tie for third on Saturday after a one-over-par round of 73 left him on 12-under, alongside Englishman Joe Long (67) and Portugal’s Stephen Ferreira (69).
Another KZN golfer, Malcolm Mitchell, surged up the leaderboard on Saturday with a seven-under 65 lifting him to 11-under-par, sharing sixth place with fellow South Africans Stefan Wears-Taylor (68), Jacques Blaauw (69) and Rupert Kaminski (71).