Sunshine Tour rookie Jonno Broomhead will take a one-stroke lead into Sunday’s final round of the Tour Championship at Serengeti Estates as he chases a maiden win in the season-ending tournament.

Broomhead signed for a third round of 67 to lead this exclusive field drawn from the top 50 on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit on 13 under par, with Kyle Barker his nearest challenger on 12 under par following a 69.

It’s another realistic shot at a maiden Sunshine Tour victory for KwaZulu-Natal professional Broomhead, who came close when he was in the running for the Gary and Vivienne Player Challenge last year before finishing 12th there. This season he’s also had top finishes of sixth in the Blue Label Challenge and tied eighth in the SunBet Challenge Sun Sibaya tournament.

“It was good today,” said Broomhead of a third round that started with three birdies and an eagle in his first five holes. “I made a couple of drops on the way but generally kept it very steady and played where I needed to and finished quite nicely.”

It’s been a solid rookie season thus far for Broomhead and one which he now hopes will culminate in a title on Sunday.

“It’s been great. I think the switch from amateur golf to professional golf was a lot bigger than I thought. But I’ve had a fairly decent season and I’ve enjoyed it.”

Just one shot behind him, Barker is equally looking forward to signing off a season in which he claimed his second Sunshine Tour title and played in his first Major in The Open on a high at Serengeti on Sunday.

But he was also full of praise for Broomhead’s performance.

“Well done to Jonno. He’s played great the last three days. To get to 13 under on this golf course in three days is pretty tough so that’s great golf.

“As for my own game, I’m driving the ball well and committing nicely to the shots. I’m feeling really good. I’ll just keep it the same in the final round. I’ll keep hitting drivers and hope to make the putts. I like the challenge of looking at the leaderboard during a final round, so it will be great fun.”

The third round also featured the culmination of the Bain’s Whisky Par-3 Shootout.

The Shootout saw all the professionals who have made holes-in-one on the Sunshine Tour this season coming together on the par-three ninth hole at Serengeti to challenge for the title of overall champion.

Jacques Blaauw claimed the overall title as the player nearest to the pin, winning himself R70 000 as well as a bottle of 21-year-old Bain’s Whisky.

“The Shootout was a lot of fun. There were definitely a lot more players who made holes-in-one on the Sunshine Tour this season than last season, which is great,” he said. – Michael Vlismas.

SCORES:

203 - Jonathan Broomhead 70 66 67

204 - Kyle Barker 70 65 69

206 - Wilco Nienaber 67 71 68, Neil Schietekat 69 69 68, Darren Fichardt 69 69 68, Rupert Kaminski 70 68 68

207 - Robin Williams 70 69 68

209 - Pieter Moolman 69 72 68, JC Ritchie 70 70 69

210 - Dylan Naidoo 71 68 71, Louis Albertse 75 68 67, Deon Germishuys 71 71 68, Jayden Schaper 71 72 67, Peter Karmis 72 71 67

211 - Jean Hugo 71 68 72, Casey Jarvis 69 70 72, Ryan Van Velzen 72 70 69, Trevor Fisher Jnr 69 73 69, Daniel van Tonder 72 72 67

212 - Lyle Rowe 69 72 71, Anthony Michael 70 72 70, Thomas Aiken 70 72 70, Luke Jerling 73 71 68

213 - Nikhil Rama 72 71 70, Malcolm Mitchell 70 69 74, Louis de Jager 72 67 74, Luca Filippi 68 75 70

214 - Robson Chinhoi 71 70 73, Keenan Davidse 72 70 72

215 - Jaco Van Zyl 72 75 68, Jaco Ahlers 73 70 72, Wynand Dingle 76 72 67, Hennie O'Kennedy 71 69 75

216 - Gerhard Pepler 69 79 68

217 - Danie Van Niekerk 70 76 71, Heinrich Bruiners 71 74 72, Jovan Rebula 72 72 73

218 - Matthew Spacey 75 72 71, Jacques Blaauw 68 75 75, Martin Rohwer 69 74 75

220 - Jacques P de Villiers 71 74 75

221 - Hennie Otto 77 72 72

222 - Stefan Wears-Taylor 80 65 77