{"id":6832,"date":"2012-01-08T08:26:10","date_gmt":"2012-01-08T06:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/01\/golf-journeyman-van-der-walt-shares-africa-open-lead\/"},"modified":"2012-01-08T08:26:10","modified_gmt":"2012-01-08T06:26:10","slug":"golf-journeyman-van-der-walt-shares-africa-open-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/golf-journeyman-van-der-walt-shares-africa-open-lead\/","title":{"rendered":"Golf-Journeyman Van der Walt shares Africa Open lead"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

By Jason Humphries<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

EAST LONDON, South Africa<\/span> Jan 7 (Reuters) – Defending
\nchampion Louis Oosthuizen and journeyman Tjaart van der Walt
\nwere locked at the top the Africa Open leaderboard on 21-under
\npar after a see-saw battle in the third round on Saturday.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

South African Oosthuizen, the overnight leader, closed the
\nday with a six-under par round of 67 while the 37-year-old Van
\nder Walt, who began the day two shots off the lead, carded a 65
\nwith both men picking up just a single bogey.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion, and Van der
\nWalt, who has plied his trade on the PGA, European and Asian
\nTours without winning a professional tournament, spent much of
\nthe day locked in battle with the third member of the final
\nthree-ball, compatriot Retief Goosen.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

But Goosen could only par the 18th hole after his second
\nshot found a greenside bunker, while Oosthuizen and Van der Walt
\nboth birdied. Goosen ended the round one shot off the pace after
\na seven-under 66.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Wind finally blew in the afternoon at the coastal course but
\nOosthuizen said that if the weather remained good it would take
\na very low score to win the tournament.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“If it’s the same weather then I expect 27, 28-under to
\nwin,” he told reporters.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“Everyone will know that there are a lot of birdies out
\nthere. If there is no wind and you are four behind it’s going to
\nbe really tough to catch the leaders because they are also going
\nto be scoring.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Briton Danny Willett (65) was in fourth place on 19-under
\nwhile the day’s lowest round belonged to South African Richard
\nSterne who fired a nine-under-par 64 to move to 17-under and
\nfifth place heading into the final day.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Van der Walt told reporters: “I’ve been close (to winning)
\nmany times but every time there seems to be a top-ranked player
\nwith a stop sign in front of me. But I can compete on the last
\nday. Who knows what can happen if I keep knocking on the door.”\t<\/p>\n

(Editing by Dave Thompson. (To comment on this story email
\nsportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com;
\ndave.thompson@thomsonreuters.com +44 207 542 7933; Reuters
\nmessenger: dave.thompson.reuters.com@reuters.net; Please double
\nclick on the newslink for more golf)<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\u00a9 Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jason Humphries EAST LONDON, South Africa Jan 7 (Reuters) – Defending champion Louis Oosthuizen and journeyman Tjaart van der Walt were locked at the top the Africa Open leaderboard on 21-under par after a see-saw battle in the third round on Saturday. South African Oosthuizen, the overnight leader, closed the day with a six-under […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-6832","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6832\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}