Daniel van Tonder will take a three-stroke lead into the final day of the MyGolfLife Open hosted by Pecanwood Estate, as he closes in on securing back-to-back HotelPlanner Tour wins.
The South African, who triumphed in the season-opening SDC Open last week, has continued his imperious form in Hartbeespoort, and extended his lead to three on moving day after signing for a six under par round of 66 to reach 22 under par for the week.
The 28-year-old leads by three from Australian Danny List who carded a bogey-free ten under par round of 62 to climb into second place.
Van Tonder is now in pole position to become the first person to earn back-to-back HotelPlanner Tour wins since countryman JC Ritchie did so in 2023, but says he has bigger plans should he triumph tomorrow.
“It would be nice to get my second win tomorrow,” he said. “A win in Cape Town next week would make it my third which would see me straight on to the DP World Tour. That would be amazing but there’s a long way to go.
“It’s amazing to be in this form but it doesn’t feel like I’m doing anything different to normal. It feels normal. I always try to play like this. It’s just nice to get the reward of working hard and doing my thing of trusting myself.”
Van Tonder started the day two shots clear, but after playing the front nine in level par, found himself one shot off the pace on another low-scoring day at Pecanwood.
The SDC Open champion then roared back after the turn, firing six birdies in a seven-hole stretch from the tenth to move clear.
“It took a while to start with, but I had a good finish today on the back nine,” he added. “I think I just wanted to give the other guys some light in the tunnel.
“I had a bit of bad luck on a few holes, but otherwise I’m happy. I kept my head down, gave myself chances and I managed to take a lot of them coming in.
“I’m looking forward to it tomorrow. I’ll keep on applying the pressure and see what happens.”
South African Martin Vorster is in third place on 18 under par, with Norwegian Andreas Havlorsen one shot further back in fourth. Kyle Barker from South Africa is in fifth on 16 under par, while nine players share sixth on 15 under par, including Scotland’s David Law, Frenchman Clément Sordet and Spaniard Albert Boneta.
The final round of the MyGolfLife Open hosted by Pecanwood Estate gets under way tomorrow at 6:30am local time, with Van Tonder teeing off alongside List and Vorster at 10:30am.
