Louis Albertse showed just what a change winning can bring about in a player’s approach when he carded a superb six-under-par 66 on Saturday to grab a one-shot lead after the third round of the Sunshine Tour’s Blair Atholl Championship.
Albertse took his maiden Sunshine Tour title just over a month ago, and he brushed aside the negative impact of a double-bogey and two bogeys with an eagle and eight birdies as he headed into the final round one clear of veterans Ulrich van den Berg and Trevor Fisher Jnr.
“Winning changes your frame of mind a bit, you know you can do it, you did it once so you can do it again. It frees up your game a bit and you give yourself more chances,” Albertse said.
And he had to do just that when he got into difficulties, as he did with his double-bogey on the par-three 17th. He showed just what the new-found confidence can do, as that double followed a birdie on 16, and he followed the trouble with a redeeming birdie on the 18th.
“This is a long course, the wind was tricky and I didn’t always get it right, but tough conditions get me going and to shoot six-under was very pleasing,” Albertse said. “There are more scoring opportunities on the front, but the back nine is harder, there are a few really long par fours and the wind got up. But I still played really nicely.
“It’s hard to get close when you’re hitting five- or six-irons in, so it helps when your putter gets hot and to have just 24 putts today was very nice.”
Van den Berg and Fisher showed the value of experience in tough conditions on a tough course with a pair of 68s, putting them one clear of the 36-hole leaders, Rupert Kaminski and Anton Haig, who were on six-under with Ockie Strydom and Luke Brown.
Jayden Schaper, who carded a 65 in the second round, was putting together a great third round when he was six-under-par through 10 holes to take the lead, but he then dropped five shots in the last four holes and came home in 42, finishing the third round in level-par and on five-under for the tournament.
