Frenchman David Ravetto will take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt, and with South Africa’s Franklin Manchest chasing a possibly career-defining Sunday for himself.

Ravetto held onto his lead as he signed for a 71 on the challenging Links golf course on Saturday, climbing to 12 under par overall in this Sunshine Tour and European Challenge Tour co-sanctioned tournament.

He is two strokes clear of Manchest who posted his best ever round on the Links of 67. France’s Pierre Pineau and Benjamin Hebert as well as England’s Sam Hutsby are all on nine under par. Pineau signed for a 72 at the Links while Hebert posted a 66 at the Montagu and Hutsby added his 71 on the Links.

In a surprising twist, three of the leading four professionals came from the Links and not, as expected, either the Outeniqua or Montagu courses as the other two possibly more forgiving layouts used for this tournament.

“The Links is the toughest of the three courses here and the pins were also tricky so I knew I had to hit good shots and be patient. I’m pretty happy with my work right now,” said Ravetto.

“On the Links you just need to hang in there and be patient. It’s a really good test of golf.”

Behind him, Manchest worked his way into contention on a golf course he knows well having grown up in George.

“I feel really comfortable here. I had to keep the nerves in tact a bit though. After a solid round in Friday’s bad weather I knew I had a chance and just told myself to keep my head down and go for it. It’s special to shoot a 67 here at the Links, which is my lowest ever score on this course. My putter really delivered today,” he said. – Michael Vlismas.

SCORES:

205 - David Ravetto 68 66 71

207 - Franklin Manchest 70 70 67

208 - Pierre Pineau 70 66 72, Benjamin Hebert 65 77 66, Sam Hutsby 72 65 71

209 - Benjamin Follett-Smith 70 70 69, Victor Pastor 66 78 65, Louis Albertse 69 66 74, Robin Williams 70 68 71, Zander Lombard 70 66 73, Hennie du Plessis 67 72 70, Luca Filippi 66 75 68

210 - Soren Broholt Lind 70 72 68, Quim Vidal 72 70 68, Philipp Katich 73 72 65, Brandon Stone 67 78 65

211 - Anton Albers 68 72 71, Kyle Barker 72 69 70

212 - Nicolai Kristensen 67 76 69, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen 70 68 74, Dylan Naidoo 74 69 69, Jaco Ahlers 67 78 67

213 - Clement Berardo 70 73 70, Malcolm Mitchell 71 70 72, Lyle Rowe 73 70 70, Richard Mcevoy 72 71 70, Jordan Gumberg 68 71 74, Daniel Young 76 72 65, Hamish Brown 68 70 75, Felix Mory 75 71 67, Trevor Fisher Jnr 67 73 73, Keenan Davidse 69 72 72, Luke Jerling 73 68 72, Alexander Levy 68 75 70

214 - John Parry 72 71 71, Conor Purcell 71 67 76, JC Ritchie 72 74 68, Craig Howie 71 73 70, Mikael Lindberg 70 77 67, Mark Power 76 70 68, Alfie Plant 71 73 70, Romain Wattel 77 71 66, Bryce Easton 63 80 71

215 - Chris Paisley 70 69 76, Lars van Meijel 71 71 73, Jean Hugo 73 69 73, Yurav Premlall 71 74 70, Thomas Aiken 69 78 68, Jacques Blaauw 66 82 67

216 - Toby Tree 73 73 70, Maxence Giboudot 71 74 71, Keith Horne 76 73 67, David Langley 70 76 70, Nicolai Von Dellingshausen 69 73 74, Robin Roussel 71 73 72, Hayden Hopewell 75 74 67

217 - Wynand Dingle 75 75 67, Daniel van Tonder 66 78 73, JJ Senekal 76 69 72, Heinrich Bruiners 72 71 74, Jaco Prinsloo 68 82 67, Casey Jarvis 73 74 70, Martin Couvra 68 73 76, Wilco Nienaber 73 73 71, Oliver Bekker 67 80 70, Jaco Van Zyl 72 75 70

218 - Kyle McClatchie 74 76 68, Joshua Berry 72 74 72, Richie O'Donovan 74 72 72, Oliver Hundeboll 69 75 74, Neil Schietekat 77 69 72, Shaun Norris 71 76 71, Kyle De Beer 74 69 75, Martin Vorster 69 81 68, Julien Sale 78 71 69, Jeppe Kristian Andersen 78 75 65, Robin Sciot-Siegrist 75 72 71, LB Boshoff 72 76 70

219 - Tom Shadbolt 68 76 75, Dayne Moore 70 76 73, John Axelsen 73 71 75, Ricky Hendler 75 71 73, Hennie Otto 70 75 74, Luca Cianchetti 69 74 76, Tomas Gouveia 80 69 70

220 - Justin Walters 74 71 75, Gregory Bourdy 77 70 73, Jbe' Kruger 75 69 76, Jonathan Caldwell 74 73 73, Martin Rohwer 80 69 71, Deon Germishuys 74 74 72, Rupert Kaminski 75 73 72, Joel Moscatel 80 74 66, Anthony Michael 69 74 77, Euan Walker 75 73 72

221 - Conner Mackenzie 70 79 72, Justin Harding 75 71 75, Jamie Rutherford 71 78 72, Oihan Guillamoundeguy 70 78 73, Adriel Poonan 74 75 72, Martin Simonsen 72 77 72, Gary Hurley 74 71 76, Lucas Vacarisas 73 74 74, Jayden Schaper 74 79 68, Ryan Van Velzen 73 78 70, Jannik de Bruyn 76 76 69, Stefan Wears-Taylor 66 84 71

222 - Steven Brown 75 76 71, Haraldur Magnus 72 79 71, Tristen Strydom 75 73 74, Nikhil Rama 73 77 72, Connor Mckinney 73 72 77, Gary Boyd 73 68 81, Rourke van der Spuy 75 73 74, Keagan Thomas 69 83 70, Lauri Ruuska 78 75 69

223 - Mateusz Gradecki 75 79 69, Jovan Rebula 78 75 70, MJ Viljoen 67 78 78, Ronan Kleu 75 78 70, Ronan Mullarney 79 72 72

224 - Oliver Lindell 69 86 69, Toto Thimba Jnr 68 85 71, Marc Hammer 70 75 79, Hennie O'Kennedy 76 76 72

225 - Javier Sainz 72 80 73, Anton Karlsson 73 75 77, Adam Breen 74 71 80, Danie Van Niekerk 77 74 74

226 - Dylan Mostert 78 73 75

227 - George Mason 73 79 75, Jake Redman 78 76 73, Dermot Mcelroy 73 77 77, Sean Cronje 72 79 76, James Allan 84 74 69

228 - Bradley Bawden 77 72 79, Gerhard Pepler 76 78 74

229 - Tapio Pulkkanen 82 78 69, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 85 75 69, Herman Loubser 76 81 72

230 - Christofer Blomstrand 73 85 72, CJ du Plessis 74 81 75, James Mack 79 80 71, Keelan van Wyk 79 83 68

232 - Jonathan Goth-Rasmussen 81 72 79, Clancy Waugh 74 81 77, Rhys Enoch 78 81 73

233 - Joachim B. Hansen 81 73 79, Ruan Korb 74 83 76

234 - Albert Venter 77 87 70

235 - Pietro Bovari 82 79 74

238 - Merrick Bremner 77 81 80

244 - Robson Chinhoi 83 84 77

248 - James Kamte 84 76 88

Missed the cut:-

149 - Ross Mcgowan 75 74

Missed the cut:-

70 - Laurie Canter 70