Chase Koepka went head-to-head with a world class player Saturday in South Africa and was impressive in the process.
Koepka played on moving day at the South African Open with Branden Grace, the home-country favorite. Yes, Grace finished the day a shot out of the lead with a six-under par 66 but Koepka put himself in the hunt going into Sunday after he drained a 20-foot birdie putt at the 18th to shoot 68.
Grace was in at 14-under par and will be in the final twosome with leader Chris Paisley.
Koepka, playing in his first European Tour event as a card-holder, will be in the next-to-last pairing. He’s 12-under par and will go out with South African Jacques Blaauw.
Chase played steady all day with five birdies and just a single bogey at the 10th hole when he pulled his drive left into the trees.
ASIAN TEAM HOLDS SLIM LEAD OVER EUROPEANS:
While the first regular season event goes on in South Africa, bigger names from Europe still find themselves trailing against the underdog Asians in the Eurasia Cup.
The alternate-shot matches on Saturday ended in a 3-3 stalemate as the score reads Asia 6 1/2, Europe 5 1/2 going into the final day of singles matches Sunday in Kuala Lumpur.
Tommy Fleetwood stayed unbeaten as he teamed with Henrik Stenson to take down the team of SSP Chawrasia and Kiradech Aphibarnrat, 3-and-2.
Alternate Shot Results:
Tommy Fleetwood & Henrik Stenson win 3&2 against SSP Chawrasia & Anirban Lahiri
Paul Casey & Tyrrell Hatton win 2&1 against Kiradech Aphibarnrat & Byeong Hun An
Gavin Green & Yuta Ikeda 1 up against Rafa Cabrera Bello & Alex Levy
Matt Fitzpatrick & Thomas Pieters win 3&2 against Poom Saksansin & Sunghoon Kang
Phachara Khongwatmai & Hideto Tanihara win 2&1 against Paul Dunne & Alex Noren
Li Haotong & Nicholas Fung win 3&1 against Ross Fisher & Bernd Wiesberger
