Dunne continues impressive comeback with 65 in Pretoria

Dunne continues impressive comeback with 65 in Pretoria
Pretoria Coun

Pretoria Coun

Paul Dunne continued his remarkable turnaround in the Tshwane Open with a third round 65 firing him into contention for his first top ten finish of the season.

The Greystones man looked set for an early exit at Pretoria Country Club when he made five bogeys in his first seven holes in the first round.

Since then he's made 16 birdies, and while another four bogeys mean he is tied 13th on six-under-par, another solid round could turn what looked like a lost week into a huge bonus.

Ranked 50th in the Race to Dubai, Dunne would like to have his card wrapped up as soon as possible with all the big money events still ahead.

He looks likely to play in many of the $7m Rolex Series events and will be keen to get to Wentworth in May with his confidence on the rise.

On Saturday, he was three under par with five holes to go and finished with three successive birdies to make a big move up the leaderboard thanks to a six-under 65.

At the top, Swedish rookie Alexander Björk and Scotland's Scott Jamieson recorded rounds of 68 to get to 13 under and take a one-shot lead over South Africa's Dean Burmester (65) and Spain's Jorge Campillo (65).

Finn Mikko Korhonen is at 11 under, a shot clear of South Africans Thomas Aiken and Peter Karmis, England's Oliver Fisher and James Morrison, and Australian Ben Eccles.

Swedish rookie Björk, 26, is playing in just his ninth European Tour event while Scotsman Jamieson is seeking a second European Tour win after his victory at the Nelson Mandela Championship presented by ISPS Handa in 2013.

"I'm in a great position to go out and try and win the tournament tomorrow," said Jamieson. "Yet again, I was really good tee to green but I felt as if I left quite a few out there on the greens. I wasn't at my best there but tomorrow's another day and I have a chance of winning."

Bjork said: "I'm very pleased with my position. It was a solid round today. I got off to a very good start with two straight birdies. Things were a little bit worse in the middle of the round but I finished with a good birdie on 18, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

"I've been in this position a few times on the Challenge Tour, but it's bigger here - more people, more television and everything - so I'm interested to see how I handle it tomorrow. It's going to be a lot of fun to play."

Trevor Immelman made the seventh hole-in-one of the season at the par-three fifth. 

The 2008 Masters champion holed a seven-iron from 201 yards with what was just his fifth shot on that hole all week