South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel fired a third-round 66 to hold the clubhouse lead at the weather-hit British Masters tournament at The Belfry on Saturday.
He was at six-under par for the tournament. However, the third round will have to be completed on Sunday because of fog meaning a number of players did not finish their 18 holes.
Schwartzel was the first to take over at the top, grabbing seven birdies in nine holes for a spectacular back nine of 29.
The 24-year-old then went in the water for a double bogey six at the fourth and just had time to complete a 66.
”I obviously hit the ball very good. I made a lot of putts and you know, seven birdies, quickly,” he said. ”I just hit proper golf shots. I was in the fairways, which on this course is a must.
”Made a couple more birdies, and then birdying 18 was quite a big birdie. That’s probably a shot on the field at least.
”And then the back nine, well the front nine — of course my back nine — I felt like I played actually pretty much the same as I did on the front side.
”I just drew a bad lie on the fourth and struggled to get a nine iron up on the green and came out very bad and had a double there, which wasn’t that nice.
”But other than that, it was actually a pretty solid round of golf.”
Among those yet to finish were a trio on seven under, Michael Campbell, Mikael Lundberg and Alejandro Canizares. Also on six under were Lee Westwood, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Ross Fisher. — Sapa-AFP