MoreSUN CITY, South Africa (AP) — Henrik Stenson of Sweden shot a 7-under 65 Saturday to extend his lead to eight shots after the third round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge.
Stenson held a four-stroke lead after finishing the rain-interrupted second round earlier Saturday, and sat at 17-under 199 heading into Sunday's final round.
Robert Karlsson of Sweden shot 67 and trailed Stenson, who had seven birdies in his bogey-free round.
Rory Sabbatini of South Africa battled all day to stay in touch, but repeatedly missed crucial putts and ended with a double-bogey six on the 18th after his approach reached a bunker. Sabbatini remained in third place after shooting 72, 11 shots off the lead.
American Ryder Cup star Kenny Perry had seven birdies, but added three bogeys for a 68. That was enough to vault him into fourth place ahead of England's Lee Westwood (70).
Stenson opened the tournament with a course-record 63 on Thursday. He said his string of birdies helped his confidence.
``There was a little bit of fighting earlier on, but from nine onwards I obviously started making a lot of birdies and that kind of gets you going,'' Stenson said. ``I hit of lot of good putts that finished four or five inches short on line, so I guess I could have made even a few more, but overall I'm absolutely not complaining about that.''
Defending champion Trevor Immelman tallied a 69, but trails the leader by 15 shots.
