{"id":7267,"date":"2012-01-21T20:58:48","date_gmt":"2012-01-21T18:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/01\/golf-belgian-colsaerts-back-on-top\/"},"modified":"2012-01-21T20:58:48","modified_gmt":"2012-01-21T18:58:48","slug":"golf-belgian-colsaerts-back-on-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/golf-belgian-colsaerts-back-on-top\/","title":{"rendered":"Golf-Belgian Colsaerts back on top"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

By Ken Borland<\/span><\/p>\n

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

GEORGE, South Africa<\/span> Jan 21 (Reuters) – Belgium’s
\nNicolas Colsaerts shot a four-under-par 69 on Saturday to again
\nfind himself at the top of the leaderboard after the third round
\nof the Volvo Golf Champions at the Fancourt Links.<\/p>\n

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

Colsaerts fired a course-record 64 in the first round of the
\ntwo million euro event to grab a four-shot lead, but then
\nstruggled to a 76 in the second round to slip six shots behind
\nSouth African Branden Grace.<\/p>\n

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

But on a day on which only 10 of the 35 golfers were under-
\npar, Colsaerts’s impressive third round, capped by an
\neagle-three on the 18th, vaulted him back into a tie for first
\nplace with Grace on 10-under.<\/p>\n

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

Grace shot a two-over-par 75 in the tricky weather
\nconditions, marked by a blustery wind and steady rain for most
\nof the day. Compatriots Retief Goosen (70) and Charl
\nSchwartzel(68) ended on nine-under-par, one ahead of European
\nRyder Cup captain Jose-Maria Olazabal (72).<\/p>\n

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

Masters champion Schwartzel made the biggest move. He eagled
\nthe par-five ninth to go out in just 32 strokes, but his hot
\nrun petered out on the back nine which he completed in
\none-under-par.<\/p>\n

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

The long-hitting Colsaerts capitalised on some daring drives
\ndown the tight fairways as he shrugged off a bogey on
\nthe first hole with birdies on the fourth, sixth and ninth. He
\nwas level-par on the back nine before his spectacular eagle on
\nthe 502-metre last hole.<\/p>\n

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

“I hit an enormous drive on 18, leaving me 190 to the flag,
\nand then hit an eight-iron on to the green. It was nice to make
\nthat putt after a drive like that,” Colsaerts told reporters.<\/p>\n

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

“The last few holes suit my long-driving skills so I go with
\nmy strengths. If I hit a good one, I can get half-a-shot on the
\nfield and that’s quite an advantage,” he said.<\/p>\n

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

The scorecards of most of the golfers were filled with
\ndropped shots and there were two quadruple-bogeys — by Spain’s
\nPablo Martin, who shot a 17-over-par 90, and Briton Kenneth
\nFerrie (80).<\/p>\n

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

Schwartzel said: “The first two days were pretty easy
\nbecause we weren’t hitting long clubs into the greens. But today
\nwas a lot tougher out there, the wind and misty rain made it
\ndifficult. I was hitting four-irons into the wind where normally
\nI’d be hitting a seven-iron.”\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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ken Borland GEORGE, South Africa Jan 21 (Reuters) – Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts shot a four-under-par 69 on Saturday to again find himself at the top of the leaderboard after the third round of the Volvo Golf Champions at the Fancourt Links. Colsaerts fired a course-record 64 in the first round of the two million […]<\/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-7267","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\/7267","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=7267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}