Young Irishman stands strong on windy third day at Cape Town Open

Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin kept his young head during an extremely tricky day at the Royal Cape Golf Club and will take a two-stroke lead into Sunday’s final round of the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open.

With a different wind pulling at the swings and nerves of this Sunshine Tour and Challenge Tour field, McKibbin signed for a two-under-par 70 to lead the field on 16 under overall.

“I’m delighted. Arriving this morning and seeing how windy it was, I would’ve definitely taken two under today. It was really tricky,” said the 19-year-old.

His nearest challengers are defending champion JC Ritchie of South Africa and Spain’s Ivan Cantero Gutierrez on 14 under following their respective rounds of 67 and 69. And then Neil Schietekat and Zander Lombard are in a group of players on 13 under par.

The change in wind direction definitely caught the attention of this field on Saturday and had the greatest impact on the front nine.

“The wind was swirling quite a bit and it was just hard out there. It was a tough start with the wind, and then it eased up on the back nine. You could hit a good shot and it could just go into the trees,” said McKibbin.

Ritchie also struggled to adjust early in his round, and relied heavily on his past memories of this golf course and his success here.

“It was a funny round of golf today. I didn’t hit the ball great but kept my head down and missed in the right places and plotted my way around. The wind threw me a little off course. It was a wind direction I haven’t played in about two years, so it felt very strange. Early on I was uncomfortable with it, and the putter definitely kept me alive today. And it also helped just knowing where to miss on this golf course when things aren’t going your way,” he said.

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