Mayo, Steyn share lead at Prince’s Grant
The afternoon wind made life more interesting for the golfers.
KWAZULU-NATAL’S Luke Mayo and Central Gauteng’s Marco Steyn came through the challenge of 36 holes, another windy afternoon and a tougher course set-up to share the lead in the Oxigen Prince’s Grant National Amateur Invitational on Tuesday.
The two golfers head into Wednesday’s final round locked together on level par for the tournament and four shots clear of their nearest challenger in Darin de Smidt.
Mayo held a one-shot lead on two under par following the second round on Tuesday morning, where he posted a bogey-free 68 in perfect conditions. Steyn was only one shot back after a second-round 71.
But another tricky afternoon in the wind pulled them alongside each other as Mayo signed for a third round of 74 and Steyn added a 73.
“The conditions were great in the morning and I was striking the ball well and holed putts. But in the afternoon the wind got up and it was a lot tougher. This is a completely different course when the wind blows and it becomes a lot harder to give yourself chances,” said Mayo.
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Steyn had a similar experience.
“In the morning there was no wind and you could really make a score out there,” he said of a second round where he was four under through seven holes.
“I let it slip a bit on the back nine but still finished one under which was pretty decent. Then in the afternoon the wind picked up and the course set-up was harder, so it was really a matter of making pars and keeping the double bogeys off the card. I was pretty pleased with a 73 in the third round.”
Both Mayo and Steyn had never played Prince’s Grant before this week so are understandably pleased with their performance headed into the final round.
Steyn in particular is right where he wanted to be at the start of the week.
“I’m very pleased. At the start of the week I said I just wanted to be in contention going into the last round. I’ve done that and now I’ve just got to push for one more round and hopefully I can pull it through.
“I’m not going to force anything on the final day but I’m also not going play too conservatively. If my current gameplan is good enough then so be it. If not, well played to the winner.”
Scores after the third round of the Oxigen Prince’s Grant Invitational played at the par-72 Prince’s Grant Golf Estate on Tuesday:
216 Marco Steyn 72 71 73; Luke Mayo 74 68 74
220 Darin de Smidt 72 74 74
221 Therion Nel 76 72 73
222 Dylan Kok 73 76 73
224 Otto van Buynder 78 72 74
225 Andre van Heerden 73 75 77; Gregory Mckay 72 75 78
226 Dave Watson 80 74 72; Martin Vorster 78 72 76; Dean Martin 72 78 76
227 Andrew Carlsson 73 71 83; David Nortje 73 73 81; Allan Lones 78 75 74
228 Stefan Labuschagne 78 74 76
230 Aneurin Gounden 78 74 78; Keegan Mclachlan 82 72 76
231 Jason Broomhead 74 72 85
232 Andrew Plint 76 74 82; Keaton Slatter 79 77 76; Nicholaus Frade 81 75 76 ; Jayden Schaper 73 80 79
233 Richard Joubert 79 77 77; Philip Kruse 77 74 82
234 Richard Maree 73 83 78; Emilio Pera 83 72 79; Christopher van der Merwe 80 78 76
238 Jason Rossiter 81 80 77
239 Hannes van der Merwe 80 80 79; Kyle Kistensamy 80 83 76; Hayden Griffiths 77 80 82; Tom Lovett 78 80 81
240 Tyrone Gibb 88 80 72; Burt Gildenhuys 83 76 81
241 Steven le Roux 85 80 76; Graham Fabricius 87 76 78
243 Armand van Dyk 79 87 77
245 Karl Lehmacher 82 80 83; Matthew Hands 79 84 82
246 Shaun Bernstein 89 80 77
250 Mohit Mediratta 84 87 79; Eric Wowor 80 89 81
253 Tristan Brice 81 89 83
254 Fanie Wolmarans 85 82 87
256 Zabastian de Jager 98 81 77
262 Thabiso Magwaza 83 89 90
263 Wayne Denissen 84 86 93
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