It was another solid performance from Mallow’s James Sugrue yesterday as he carded a one under par 71 at the third round of the South African Strokeplay Championship.  After earlier rounds of -5 and -3, yesterday’s one under was more modest, but he maintained his position on the leaderboard.  Two bogies and three birdies meant that Sugrue finished on -1 and an aggregate of -9 for his 54 holes.

Sugrue is now seven shots off the lead, meaning a win is probably out of reach, but a top ten finish will add to Sugrue’s very positive start to the season and it will have a positive impact on his WAGR ranking.  He’s also the best of the strong Irish challenge, Conor Purcell and Mark Power two shots back on -7 (T10).  Caolan Rafferty and Ronan Mullarney are also in the top twenty.

South Africa’s Jaden Schaper (-16) has maintained his five shot lead over the field and he’s the favourite to win his national title tomorrow.  Second placed Wilco Neinaber (-11) and Deon Germishuys (-10) complete an all SA top three.  The final round commences a 7am local time with Sugrue on the 1st tee at 10.30am (8.30 Irish time).  Live scores available here.