Christiaan Bezuidenhout moved inside the top 10 on Saturday after a third-round five-under-par 66 took him to a share of eighth in the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic in Silvis, Illinois.
Bezuidenhout was on 13-under for the tournament through 54 holes, six shots behind the leader JT Poston of the United States. Poston, who has led since his opening nine-under 62, carded a four-under 67 to move to 19-under and three strokes clear of Americans Scott Stalling and Denny McCarthy and Emiliano Grillo of Argentina.
Bezuidenhout got a really good kick-start to his round with an eagle-three on the second. With two more birdies and no bogeys on the front nine, he turned in four-under. He picked up two more shots on 11 and 13, and then dropped two in a row on 14 and 15. He reversed that trend, though, with a birdie on 17.
The eagle came with a big drive of 336 yards on the par-five second, and a pin-point approach of over 200 yards to just inside nine feet, from where he made the putt.
The other South African still in the field after the cut, Dylan Frittelli, carded his second successive one-under-par 70 to move to seven-under and a share of 39th.
