Grace Remains in First at Alfred Dunhill Championship


Branden Grace came back to the field following an even-par 72 on Saturday at the Alfred Dunhill Championship. The full-field European Tour event is taking place at Leopard Creek Country in Malelane, South Africa.

Grace started the day with a five-stroke lead thanks to opening a 62 and 66. But 26-year-old from Pretoria could only muster four birdies and a like number of bogeys in the third round to reach 16-under 200, only a stroke ahead of Denmark's Lucas Bjerregaard, who birdied the last three holes for a 66.

Just one stroke further back is England's Danny Willett, winner of last week's limited-field Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City, South Africa.

Grace admitted his game was off following two days of stellar play. "A couple of the easy holes I managed to make mistakes on," he said. "But I'm in the position I want to be in and looking forward to tomorrow."

After a winless 2013 following an outstanding four-win campaign in 2012, Grace believes he's at a place where that drought will end. "If you look at the positives, I'm still in good form and I made a couple of nice putts on the front nine. I'm one ahead and I'm raring to go tomorrow.

"I've only had good experiences going into a final round and leading. I'm looking forward to tomorrow and taking in those positive vibes."

The 23-year-old Bjerregaard did all his damage on the back nine. After making the turn in even-par, he had four birdies and an eagle on the par-5 13th hole for a 31 on the par-37 home half.

Trailing Grace by three is Italy's Francesco Molinari, who posted a 70, while four back is British player Andrew Johnston (68). Louis Oosthuizen carded a 68 and is six shots behind, with another Dane, Morten Orum Madsen (72) and South African Shaun Norris (73) tied for seventh at 208.

Four South Africans - Danie van Tonder, Tjaart van der Walt, Trevor Fisher Jr. and Richard Sterne - are tied for ninth at 209.

Defending two-time champion Charl Schwartzel dropped way down the leaderboard following a 76 and is tied for 43rd at 215.

For all the scores, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2014096/leaderboard/index.html.