Tom McKibbin will take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open as he goes in search of his maiden professional title at Royal Cape Golf Club.
The Northern Irishman followed his sizzling ten under par round of 62 on the second day with a two under par round of 70 in tricky winds on Saturday, moving to 16 under par and two clear of Spaniard Ivan Cantero-Gutierrez and South African JC Ritchie, whose five under par round of 67 has given him a chance of successfully defending the title he won in the Mother City last year.
McKibbin, who hails from the same Northern Irish town as four-time Major Champion Rory McIlroy, battled the swirling wind to keep the field at arm’s length after entering the third round with a three-stroke lead.
“Seeing how windy it was when I arrived this morning, I definitely would’ve taken 70, two under today,” he said. “It was real tricky, the wind was swirling and it was just hard with how tight it is, just to hold the fairways and stuff like that.
“It was definitely tricky. The first two holes were downwind and you’re almost getting too close to the greens. The third was basically a par five today, I’m sure not many people got there in two. It was a tough start, so you just had to get through nine and then the back nine was a little easier, there wasn’t as much wind and the wind favoured the holes.”
The 19-year-old only joined the professional ranks in April 2021 but showed maturity beyond his years on day three at Royal Cape, with a particular highlight being a 30-foot birdie putt on the 15th.
“The birdie on 15 was huge,” he said. “It was a tough pin, sort of smelly over the water so I just tried to hit it into the middle of the green and then two-putt it from there, but fortunately it went in.
“I feel good. I’ve been practicing all winter for when I put myself in these positions, which has been nice. Hopefully I can just move on and play a good round of golf tomorrow.
“I’ve played a lot of golf tournaments before, so I’ve done it a lot, obviously not like here, but I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
Defending champion Ritchie was one of five players who shared the low round of the day, with countrymen Bryce Easton and Neil Schietekat also posting five under par rounds of 67 to share fourth place with fellow South African duo Zander Lombard and Pieter Moolman, as well as Frenchman Gary Stal on 13 under par.
Sweden’s Niklas Lemke and France’s Félix Mory share ninth place on 12 under par, while Italy’s Matteo Manassero, a four-time DP World Tour winner, and Belgium’s Christopher Mivis also posted rounds of 67 to share 11th place on 11 under par.
The final round of the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open will begin at 6:50am local time on Sunday February 19, with McKibbin teeing it up alongside Ritchie and Cantero Gutierrez at 10:41am.
