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Late Els eagle closes the gap on Van den Berg

Posted on: Saturday, 10 December 2005, 12:29 CST

By Ken Borland

MALELANE, South Africa (Reuters) - Ernie Els eagled the 18th hole to close the gap on leader Ulrich van den Berg to just two strokes after the third round of the Dunhill Championship on Saturday.

While Van den Berg tore around the par-72 course in 65 strokes to move to 12 under par for the tournament, Els only made a move on the last nine holes and his eagle on the 495-meter par-five closing hole lifted him into second place on 10 under.

The world number five is playing his second tournament since knee surgery at the end of July and was delighted to be in contention for the co-sanctioned European Tour and South African Sunshine Tour event after a disappointing ninth place in the Nedbank Challenge.

"After last week's semi-disaster, it would be a dream comeback to win my second tournament after five months off," Els said.

"I've been striking the ball quite well, but my putter was terrible last week. So I've been feeling my way back in, trying all sorts of styles to try and get better feel.

"I hit some good putts over the last five holes from 10 feet in and those are the scoring putts," the three times major champion added.

Standing in the way of Els's third Dunhill Championship triumph is 30-year-old South African Van den Berg, who has four Sunshine Tour titles to his name, including two in the last 12 months.

Van den Berg had one dropped shot on his card, a four at the par-three fifth hole, but picked up six birdies and an eagle at the sixth hole.

"I've been playing very nicely and I was very positive coming into the tournament," Van den Berg told reporters.

"I have to try to block out the magnitude of what the win would mean to me and I can't worry about Ernie Els or Charl Schwartzel or look at scoreboards."

Schwartzel, last year's Dunhill Championship winner, struggled to a one-over-par 36 on his opening nine but picked up three successive birdies on holes 13 to 15 to finish on nine-under-par overall in a share of third place with fellow South African Louis Oosthuizen (71).

Overnight leader Michiel Bothma plummeted down the field to a tie for 27th after a six-over-par round of 78 with three double bogeys.

The organizers have decided to bring the tee-off times for Sunday's final round forward by two hours and start off two tees as lightning and heavy rain are forecast for mid-afternoon.

Source: REUTERS

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