European Tour

Nedbank Golf Challenge 2018

November 08-11

Gary Player Country Club, Sun City, South Africa

$7,500,000

Live Leaderboard

November 08-11

Gary Player Country Club, Sun City, South Africa

$7,500,000

Live Leaderboard

Round 3

Garcia maintains Nedbank lead

Round 1

Round 2

Round 4

Round 1

Round 2

Round 4

November 10, 2018

Sergio Garcia fired a 71 on day three of the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player to open up a two-shot lead as he looks for a wire-to-wire victory in the seventh Rolex Series event of the season.

- Getty Images

“Maybe I could have been a little bit more aggressive hitting a couple shots here and there but I gave myself a good amount of chances. Unfortunately, the putts didn't want to drop but at the end of the day, shooting under par, still in the lead, I'm happy with that."

“It would be great. Winning any tournament, it's always amazing, but winning here, a Rolex Series Event, obviously extra special. It would be really nice, and you know, we're going to try to do that.”

The Spaniard led by four after round one but fellow Major Champion Louis Oosthuizen cut that to one shot after 36 holes and the South African will be the nearest challenger heading into Sunday at Gary Player Country Club.

The 38 year old will enter the final day at ten under as he looks to make it back-to-back wins after triumphing at the Andalucía Valderrama Masters hosted by his own foundation, with Oosthuizen carding a 72 to sit in second.

Garcia has nine wins from his previous 14 54-hole leads on the European Tour and would be the second wire-to-wire winner of the season after Eddie Pepperell at the Sky Sports British Masters.

A victory would be Garcia's second wire-to-wire win in the last two seasons and his third triumph at Gary Player Country Club after winning this event in 2001 and 2003 before it joined the European Tour International Schedule.

Belgian Thomas Detry, Finn Mikko Korhonen and England's Lee Westwood were then at seven under, a shot clear of another Englishman in Ross Fisher, who mounted a remarkable comeback with a 67 after dropping eight shots in his last four holes on Friday.

“I think it requires hitting it straight, and I think it requires a lot of patience because the breeze is changing, and you do get some strange things happening out there because of where it is," said Westwood.

“I've always enjoyed putting on these greens. A lot of imagination on them. Sometimes you get some big breaking putts. It reminds me in a little way of Augusta the way you have to tackle it. You have to play away from pins and sometimes you have putts that you don't want or leave in a spot where you can't get it up-and-down."

“I'm always excited when I'm in contention. It's always lovely being in the last couple of groups in this tournament, the crowds are always very enthusiastic and given me a lot of support.”

Local favourite Darren Fichardt carded a 67 to sit at four under, a shot clear of fellow South African Dean Burmester and French duo Benjamin Hebert and Mike Lorenzo-Vera.

In the quest to stay in the hunt for the Race to Dubai next week, Li Haotong and Lucas Bjerregaard both need a win but were ten and 14 shots back respectively, while Rory McIlroy - who needs a top-two finish - was at level par.