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Africa Amateur Championship
Jack Buchanan retains the lead going into the final round of the Africa Amateur Championship
06 Feb 26
5 mins
Jack Buchanan of South Africa is in pole position to win the Africa Amateur Championship at Royal Johannesburg after a five-under-par 67 gave him a commanding four-shot lead after today’s third round.
The 21-year-old sits at the top of the leaderboard on an impressive 16-under-par total of 200 ahead of countrymen Ivan Verster and Malan Potgieter who are tied for second place on 12-under-par. A remarkable front nine saw Buchanan go out in 32 thanks to birdies at the 1st, 5th and 7th before he stretched out in front with an eagle on the par-5 8th. A solid back nine, capped off with a birdie on the 18th, means he will be the player to catch in tomorrow’s final round. “I got off to a nice start. A few birdies early on, and then the eagle on eight to get the round five-under-par. Nothing more you could have asked for," he said afterwards. “I’m just going to try going into tomorrow with the same kind of plan that I have been going into the last three days with and see where things go from there.” Potgieter started his third round in the best possible fashion with an eagle on the first before going on to finish with a six-under-par 66, the low round of the day.
Malan Potgieter recorded the low round of day three.
Potgieter was pleased with his round, albeit feels it could have been even better.
“I was playing pretty well today. I made a few silly mistakes. I hit it in the water left on 15, but all in all, I'm pretty happy with how I played. Jack is playing phenomenal, so trying to chase him down is hard when he's not making mistakes. But I'm all in all pretty happy with my game," he said.
“It would be amazing to win; it's any golfer's dream to play The Open. That would be phenomenal. But there's a lot of work left to do before then, so I'm going to try and focus on tomorrow and see what happens.”
Verster, the leader after round one, put together an impressive three-under-par round of 69 thanks to birdies on the 2nd, 5th, 9th and 13th.
The 22-year-old, who narrowly missed out in a play-off in 2024, said afterwards: “I wouldn't say disappointed with today, but under-par is always good. I sort of fell back a bit. I didn't really get going today, but that's okay.
“It would be amazing (to win). I was so close two years ago."
Ivan Verster is contention going into the final day.
The Africa Amateur Championship, which is in its third year, aims to provide a platform for the continent’s finest amateur golfers.
The champion will receive exemptions into The 154th Open at Royal Birkdale, The Amateur Championship, the Alfred Dunhill Championship, the Investec South African Open and the Waterfall City Tournament of Champions powered by Attacq.
Rolex and Peter Millar are event partners of the Africa Amateur Championship and Africa Amateur Women’s Invitational, with both committed to supporting The R&A’s professional and amateur championships.