South Africa's Dylan Naidoo is chasing a maiden DP World Tour victory as he heads into Sunday's final round of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open tied for the lead with Eddie Pepperell and each with something different to prove at Mont Choisy Le Golf in their final tournament of the year.
At the end of a difficult day of wind and firm greens, Naidoo posted a brilliant 66 during which he surged through the field with six birdies in his opening seven holes, finishing on 11-under par.
England's Pepperell maintained his place at the top of the leaderboard with a round of 69.
They are both one stroke ahead of Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen, who signed for a third round of 69. And South Africa’s Jovan Rebula worked himself into contention on nine under par with a 67 on Saturday.
Naidoo, a winner on the Sunshine Tour, has never been in this position before in a DP World Tour event and will be looking to prove to himself that he belongs at this level of the game.
“I’m excited to be in this position. I’ve been there and thereabouts on the Sunshine Tour before but I’ve never been in this position. I’ll take it all in and play as well against myself as I can in the final round,” he said.
Naidoo’s front nine was outstanding but he admitted he did struggle on a back nine which ended with a frustrating bogey on the last.
“I had to find the competitor inside myself at times and make a couple of 12 footers to save par. As good as the front nine was, that’s as much of a grind as the back nine was. But I’m happy with the result,” he said.
The experienced Pepperell will head into Sunday’s final round looking to reclaim his place on the DP World Tour with a victory here after losing his playing privileges last season. He’s also hunting his first win since 2018.
“I think three under was a good round. I didn’t think it was easy at all. I felt like I hit the ball well off the tee today which you needed to do with the crosswinds. But I didn’t feel great with my irons, to be honest. I didn’t hole a lot of putts but did hole a couple towards the end, which is pleasing for the final round,” he said.
“I think I can get around here in five-under par and in windy conditions that could be enough. I would like to see my irons a bit more where I want them though.”
The AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open is proudly supported by leading brands such as AfrAsia Bank, Beachcomber Resorts & Hotels, the Mont Choisy Group, the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA), the Economic Development Board (EDB) Mauritius, Rogers, IBL, Emtel, Heritage Resorts, Mastercard, Poncini, Range Rover, the Mauritius Golf Federation, Phoenix Beverages, Kohler, ticketbox.mu, DStv, Air Mauritius, C-Care, Mautourco, Häagen-Dazs, Ernie Els Wines, London No 1 Gin, Famous Grouse, Oaks and Ames, Graham Beck, Miko Coffee, TCL, CBE and SMAG.
Scores
205 - Dylan Naidoo 70 69 66, Eddie Pepperell 66 70 69
206 - Jacob Olesen 67 70 69
207 - Jovan Rebula 71 69 67
208 - Corey Shaun 74 68 66, Jayden Schaper 68 72 68
209 - Clement Sordet 74 70 65, Christiaan Burke 72 67 70
210 - Wilco Nienaber 68 72 70, Ben Schmidt 69 71 70, Ricky Hendler 72 68 70, John Parry 70 69 71, Andreas Halvorsen 68 70 72, Hamish Brown 68 68 74
211 - Mikael Lindberg 70 75 66, Marcus Kinhult 72 71 68, James Morrison 70 72 69, Freddy Schott 74 68 69, Daniel Gale 76 65 70, Christo Lamprecht 69 68 74
212 - Joakim Lagergren 71 73 68
213 - Filip Mruzek 74 70 69, JJ Senekal 69 75 69, Brandon Robinson Thompson 73 70 70, Wenyi Ding 76 67 70, Matthew Southgate 74 67 72, Andrea Pavan 69 72 72, Renato Paratore 68 73 72, Oliver Lindell 71 69 73, Jacques Blaauw 68 71 74
214 - Zihao Jin 73 72 69, Ryan Van Velzen 71 73 70, Deon Germishuys 70 74 70, Casey Jarvis 71 73 70, Benjamin Hebert 69 74 71, Ivan Cantero 69 73 72, Luke Brown 70 71 73, Richard Sterne 75 66 73
215 - Keenan Davidse 74 71 70, Santiago Tarrio 73 72 70, Niklas Lemke 70 73 72, David Law 74 69 72, Scott Jamieson 69 74 72, Gary Hurley 74 68 73, Jean Hugo 71 71 73, Wynand Dingle 72 69 74, Trevor Fisher Jnr 71 69 75, Louis de Jager 70 68 77
216 - Jack Senior 71 74 71, Yurav Premlall 74 71 71, Felix Mory 74 71 71, Tadeas Tetak 73 71 72, Daniel Brown 75 68 73, Adri Arnaus 72 71 73, Nicolai Von Dellingshausen 72 70 74, Davis Bryant 69 73 74
217 - Jason Roets 73 71 73, Sebastian Garcia 70 73 74, Angel Ayora 72 70 75, Thomas Aiken 73 69 75
218 - Sean Crocker 72 73 73, Justin Harding 73 72 73, CJ du Plessis 75 70 73, Tiger Christensen 71 72 75, Nikhil Rama 71 71 76
219 - Altin van der Merwe 73 72 74, Max Rottluff 74 71 74, Anthony Michael 70 75 74, Alexander Levy 73 72 74, Joel Moscatel 71 73 75, Justin Walters 73 70 76
220 - Jonathan Broomhead 71 70 79
221 - Kyle Barker 76 69 76
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