An eagle, six birdies and a bogey saw Thriston Lawrence vault all the way up into a share of third after the third round of the DP World Tour’s BMW International Open at Golfclub Munchen Eichenried in Germany.
The reigning South African Open champion added his six-under third round of 66 to opening rounds of 71 and 69 to move to 10-under for the tournament. That put him four shots off the lead which was held by Dutchman Joost Luiten, who had a seven-under 65 in the third round. Luiten’s 14-under for 54 holes was three shots clear of countryman Daan Huizing, who, like Lawrence, carded a 66 for the third round. Lawrence shared third with Edoardo Molinari of Italy and New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier.
Lawrence’s eagle came on the par-four fifth hole, when he hit his drive 298 yards into the right rough short of the green and holed his pitch out of there from 42 yards. The eagle followed two early bogeys in one and three, which sandwiched a birdie in two. After he holed out, there were no more blemishes on his card, as he picked up shots on six, eight, 15, 16 and 18.
Jayden Schaper, who was the leading South African through 36 holes after rounds of 68 and 70, had got it to nine-under for the tournament through 12 holes in the third round, but he made four bogeys in the final six holes, as well as one more birdie, to slip to level-par for his round. That left him on six-under for the tournament and in a share of 14th.
Tristen Strydom and Justin Walters were in a share of 26th on four-under after rounds of 69 and 72 respectively, while Darren Fichardt had his second successive round of two-under to move to two-under through 54 holes and a share of 41st. Wilco Nienaber and Hennie du Plessis were on one-under in a share of 50th, JC Ritchie was on one-over in a share of 63rd and Daniel van Tonder was in a share of 69th on two-over.
