McLardy soars ahead after birdie blitz

South Africa‘s Andrew McLardy surged into the early lead at the Joburg Open as the fourth round got under way at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Club.

McLardy – his parents are from Helensburgh, Scotland – plays most of his golf on the Nationwide Tour and he started off badly by dropping a shot on the first. He immediately bounced back with some excellent approach shots to birdie five, seven and nine and hold a one-shot lead over Argentina‘s Ariel Canete and South Africa‘s Hennie Otto.

Both Otto and Canete were on 15 under, with the South African grabbing three birdies on the first six holes.

Thirty six players had to return early this morning to complete their third round, interrupted by a heavy thunderstorm on Saturday afternoon, before the fourth round teed off.

The surprise of the morning was the upsurge of South African Alex Haindl, who shot a 67 to join compatriot Otto in third place.

Haindl has high hopes for the final round after three birdies and an eagle on the back nine catapulted him to the top section of the leaderboard.

“I’m just going out to enjoy the round. If you told me I’d be in this position earlier in the week I’d take it with arms open,” he said.

“I just want to enjoy it, and I won’t worry if I make the odd bogey because I can go out and make a birdie afterwards,” he added.

Another Argentinian, Ricardo Gonzalez, enjoyed the early-morning conditions to shoot a six-under 65 while England‘s Tom Whitehouse had a three-under 68.