He’s making his overseas debut on the Challenge Tour, and Ruan Conradie is hanging on like a terrier after his third round of one-under-par 71 on Saturday in the Italian Challenge at Margara Golf Club in Fubine, Italy.
It was his second 70 in a row after he opened with a three-under-par 68, and it has kept him inside the top 20 at five-under-par. That’s six shots off the lead shared by Santiago Tarrio of Spain and Lukas Nemecz of Austria.
After dropping just two strokes in his opening two rounds, Conradie made a double-bogey five on the par-three sixth, and he compounded that with a bogey on the next hole. But he fought back well, making three birdies in the last four holes, to go with the one he made early in his round on the fourth.
Ahead of him in a share of seventh was JC Ritchie, fresh off his major debut in last week’s Open Championship. He found birdies hard to come by in the third round after making 10 in the first two. He made just one on Saturday on the 12th, but he dropped two shots coming in, on the 14th and 16th on his way to a one-over 72. He’s at seven-under for the tournament, four off the lead.
Jacques Blaauw was on three-under and Oliver Bekker on two-under.
