Rookie Purchase chasing Fortress Invitational glory
- Sunshine Tour
- 16 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Sunshine Tour rookie Warwick Purchase turned up the heat on a cold day at Glendower Golf Club with a third round of 10-under par 62 that earned him a three-stroke lead in the Fortress Invitational.
Purchase heads the field on 17-under par following a round which included a front nine of 28 and featured a total of nine birdies, an eagle and one bogey.
His nearest challenger is Kyle Barker on 14-under par following his third round of 66, with Daniel van Tonder (69) and Tyrone Ryan (68) on 12-under par.
It was an incredible day of golf with Purchase’s 62 and both Barker and Ryan scoring holes-in-one. Barker aced the 201-metre par-three eighth hole with a seven iron, while Ryan holed out with a gap wedge on the 125-metre par-three fifth hole.
“Today’s round was pretty insane and probably the best of my life, especially that front-nine,” said Purchase.
“I wasn’t thinking too much and was just hitting golf shots. The next minute I shot 28 on the front nine. I also managed to keep it really solid on the back nine, which was playing a bit tougher. Overall, it was a good day where my mindset was perfect.”
Purchase missed the cut in his last four tournaments before this. And after a second round of 71 he also put in even more work on his game, which showed on Saturday.
“I didn’t have a great putting round on Friday so I did quite a bit of practice after the round. My swing also fell into a nice groove today and I decided to be a bit braver and play more aggressively.”
Currently ranked in the top 10 on the Fortress Rookie of the Year standings, Purchase is preparing himself for the new experience of leading a Sunshine Tour event going into the final round.
“It’s foreign territory for me on the Sunshine Tour, so I think a little bit of thought needs to go into my gameplan and on how I will handle the nerves, as there will definitely be some. I’ll be playing with two big names on the Sunshine Tour – Daniel (Van Tonder) and Kyle (Barker) – so the goal will be to get myself into my own little bubble and not worry about what’s going on around me.”
Scores
199 - Warwick Purchase 66 71 62
202 - Kyle Barker 69 67 66
204 - Tyrone Ryan 68 68 68, Daniel van Tonder 66 69 69
206 - Luis Carrera 72 70 64, Christiaan Burke 68 67 71
207 - Heinrich Bruiners 69 69 69, Deon Germishuys 67 69 71
208 - Stephen Ferreira 71 71 66, Dylan Frittelli 73 68 67, Pieter Moolman 68 72 68, Rupert Kaminski 72 67 69, Benjamin Van Wyk 65 73 70, Tyran Snyders 66 72 70, James Mack 69 69 70, Mikkel Antonsen 69 68 71, Jonathan Broomhead 68 68 72
209 - Luke Brown 69 73 67, Martin Vorster 66 75 68, CJ du Plessis 68 70 71
210 - Samuel Simpson 74 69 67, Jacques P de Villiers 72 71 67, Kieron van Wyk 69 73 68, Jaco Prinsloo 68 73 69, Graham van der Merwe 72 69 69, Trevor Fisher Jnr 71 70 69, Pierre Viallaneix 70 68 72, Benjamin Follett-Smith 65 73 72, Kyle De Beer 69 69 72, Jason Roets 67 70 73
211 - Keelan van Wyk 72 71 68, Herman Loubser 73 69 69, Justin Walters 68 72 71
212 - Allen John 71 72 69, Keenan Davidse 72 70 70, Rhys Enoch 69 67 76
213 - Otto Van Buynder 70 73 70, Lyle Rowe 69 73 71, Louis Albertse 67 75 71, Karabo Mokoena 71 70 72, Neil Schietekat 70 71 72, Keegan Mclachlan 69 71 73
214 - Matthew Spacey 67 76 71, Kyle McClatchie 68 75 71, Keagan Thomas 71 72 71, Gerhard Pepler 70 72 72, JJ Senekal 70 72 72, Michael Hollick 71 70 73, Haydn Porteous 73 68 73, Ulrich van den Berg 72 67 75
215 - Hennie Otto 68 73 74
216 - Keanu Pestana 75 68 73
217 - Hayden Griffiths 71 72 74
218 - Ryan van der Klis 72 70 76
222 - Thomas Spreadborough 70 70 82