MALELANE, South Africa – Charl Schwartzel will take a three-shot lead into the final round of the European Tour’s season-opening Alfred Dunhill Championship after a 2-under 70 moved him to 13 under par on Saturday.

Schwartzel has returned to form at one of his favorite tournaments, which he’s won three times before along with four second-place finishes.

The South African is ahead of French pair Benjamin Hebert and Sebastien Gros at Leopard Creek Country Club.

Schwartzel, the 2011 U.S. Masters champion, had opened a five-shot lead after two rounds. He was pegged back by a bogey on his opening hole on Saturday but that was the only dropped shot of his round.

Having just avoided the cut, defending champion Branden Grace carded a 6-under 66 to surge up to a tie for ninth. Grace put himself in contention for a strong finish to his title defense after making birdies on four of his last six holes.

Rookie Gros was playing just his seventh round on the European Tour but his scintillating round of 63 with nine birdies has given him a chance of a maiden tour title already.

He’ll have to play well to beat Schwartzel on Sunday, who rates the Leopard Creek course in the wilderness of northern South Africa as one of his favorites.

Should Schwartzel hold onto his lead, he will become the first South African to win a European Tour event four times.

South African Dylan Frittelli was fourth on 8 under, while David Drysdale, Joost Luiten, Gregory Bourdy and Lasse Jensen share fifth, another shot back.

SYDNEY – Matt Jones shot a 3-under 68 to hold a three-stroke advantage over a surging Jordan Spieth after the third round of the Australian Open on Saturday.

Defending champion Spieth holed out with his shot from the fairway on the par-4 17th for an eagle, then had a tap-in birdie on 18 for a 67.

With gusty winds again affecting play on The Australian Golf Club course where Jones is a member, the U.S. -based Australian had a 54-hole total of 10-under 203.

Australian Rhein Gibson was in third after a 68, five behind Jones.

Adam Scott rebounded from a 73 on Friday to shoot 68, including an eagle on the 18th. He’s tied for seventh, nine strokes behind, as is European Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke, who shot 70.

There were only nine golfers under par. The course has been tough, with only 18 under par after the first round and 12 after the second.

Spieth had a roller-coaster of a front nine in which he bogeyed three of his first four holes and birdied the next two before finishing the front nine with a bogey and a birdie – just two pars going out.

“I made a couple of bad swings and a couple of bad decisions,” Spieth said. “Not many pars.”

Spieth settled down initially on the back nine and had two birdies on 12 and 14 with a 10-foot par save on the 13th. The fireworks came with his shot on the 17th – an 8-iron from 181 yards which hit the front edge of the green and rolled straight toward the flag, gently nudging the pin before falling straight down into the hole.

The 22-year-old American threw his hands in the air, high-fived his caddie, Michael Greller, then gave him a light punch in the chest.

“I struck it nicely, there’s not too much room to land it, up there,” Spieth said. “It was one of the great fightbacks I’ve had … I fought hard.”

Last year, Spieth shot a final-round 63, a record on the revamped Jack Nicklaus-designed course, to win by six strokes.

Jones provided some late theatrics of his own, putting from well off the green on the 17th to hole it for birdie.

“One more to go, and I get to play with the No. 1 player in the world,” Jones said of his final-round pairing with Spieth in the 100th Australian Open. “It will be a lot of fun.”

Scott ended a birdie drought not with his troublesome putter but by chipping in from just off the green on the third hole. It came after he failed to make a birdie in his Friday round, and Scott said he couldn’t recall the last time that had happened.

“It was hard-going out there today, windy, the pins were tucked, but I made some putts,” Scott said. “It was a little bit of everything, but it all added up.”

Scott, who was also nine strokes behind after the second round, said he still felt he has a chance to win on Sunday, which would be his second Australian Open title after winning in 2009. Scott, who has not won this year, has a streak of winning at least one tournament every year since 2001.

Scott hit a 5-iron into the 18th from 198 yards, then made the 12-foot eagle putt.

“Absolutely, it’s huge for tomorrow, just going out there, teeing off under par,” Scott said of his 3 on the last. “At least I clawed into red figures and start tomorrow hopeful of something special. There was a lot of good in it, even though I didn’t hit great shots all day. My scrambling was 10 out of 10, that’s for sure.”

MALELANE, South Africa – Charl Schwartzel shot a 5-under 67 Friday to open a five-shot lead after the second round of the European Tour’s season-opening Alfred Dunhill Championship.

South Africa’s Schwartzel, a three-time champion at the Alfred Dunhill, made six birdies and a bogey for an 11-under total of 133 at the halfway point.

There was a four-way tie for second at Leopard Creek Country Club, with Pablo Martin Benavides, Richard Sterne, Benjamin Hebert and Joost Luiten on 6 under.

Defending champion Branden Grace struggled to a 73 – despite an eagle on No. 13 – to be tied for 51st on level par, just avoiding the cut.

Louis Oosthuizen, the highest-ranked player at Leopard Creek this week, carded 76 to miss the cut after needing eight shots on the par-3 No. 7. It was Oosthuizen’s first missed cut in his last 18 European Tour events.

Because lightning suspended play Thursday, Schwartzel finished his first round early Friday by birdying No. 18 for a 66. He birdied the hole again in his second round to continue his strong play at a tournament where he has finished second four times to go with his three titles.

“Every year I come back here, as soon as I arrive I get that real comfortable feeling, a peaceful feeling,” Schwartzel said of the golf course on the edge of the Kruger National Park wildlife reserve.

As Schwartzel surged ahead, overnight leader Christiaan Basson had a 76 to slip down to a tie for ninth.

The European Tour opened its 2015-16 season at the Alfred Dunhill Championship just days after Rory McIlroy won the World Tour Championship and the tour’s 2014-15 Race to Dubai crown.

SYDNEY – Jordan Spieth and Adam Scott went in opposite directions at the Australian Open on Friday while Matt Jones used home-course advantage to shoot a 3-under 68 and take a three-stroke lead after two rounds.

Jones, a member at The Australian Golf Club, had a 36-hole total of 7-under 135 on a course that was playing only slightly easier after Thursday’s brutal wind and heat when only 18 players broke par.

Australian Todd Sinnott was in second place after a 70, while Spieth, who shot 68, and playing partner Geoff Ogilvy (71) were in a group of five tied for third, four behind Jones.

First-round leader Lincoln Tighe of Australia dropped four shots on his final four holes for a 73 and was also four back.

Scott, who had difficulty reading the pace of the slower greens due to early-morning rain, shot 73 and was at 2-over, two better than the 4-over cut total, but nine strokes out of the lead. Both Spieth and Scott opened with 71s.

Spieth, Ogilvy and 1997 champion Lee Westwood (72 Friday, tied for 14th, seven behind) were put on the clock by rules officials for slow play midway through the round.

“It’s tough … we were falling behind,” Spieth said. “And then once we get to 13 Lee hits it over the (television) tower and they come and tell us, ‘We know what happened but you still have to make up the time. So you’re in a bit of rush and it’s never a good thing.”

The rushing may have showed, eventually. On the par-5 15th, Spieth’s third shot from a greenside bunker went to two feet, where he made birdie. On the next hole, a par-3, his tee shot went through the green and he wasn’t able to get up and down for par, and he missed a four-footer for par on the 16th after an errant approach.

The 22-year-old American missed an eagle putt of about 35 feet on the 18th, but made his birdie to place him a good position for the weekend. Last year, his course-record 63 gave him a six-shot win on the same course in his first visit to Australia.

U.S. Amateur champion Bryson DeChambeau shot 72 and was at even par in a group that included Darren Clarke (67).

Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium, in the group tied for third, had the best round of the day, shooting 66 after an opening 73.

“I holed a few long ones today and didn’t miss the short ones like I did yesterday,” Colsaerts said.

Although the greens have been changed over since he played regularly at The Australian, Jones has fond memories of roaming the fairways at his home club “watching golf as much I could” before leaving to attend Arizona State University.

“I do know the course … comfortable with the lines of the tees and that,” Jones said. “It’ll be fun to be out there on the weekend with a lot of friends and family and members from this course out there.”

He now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with his wife, Melissa, and two daughters. He won the Houston Open last year, his first tournament victory on the PGA Tour.

Scott three-putted twice for bogeys and failed to make a birdie, making more remote his chances of extending a streak of winning at least one tournament a year since 2001.

“I just misjudged the pace of the greens for most of the day,” Scott said. “I just couldn’t get myself to hit the putt hard enough and when the greens slow down I tend to struggle, and I did again today.”

MALELANE, South Africa – Christiaan Basson held the clubhouse lead in the first round of the European Tour’s season-opening Alfred Dunhill Championship after play was suspended Thursday because of lightning.

Charl Schwartzel was part of a tie for second three shots behind Basson, but was one of a small number of players who hadn’t finished their rounds when play was called off late in the afternoon in northern South Africa.

Home player Basson opened the season with an 8-under 64 at Leopard Creek Country Club, starting the 2016 Race to Dubai just four days after Rory McIlroy clinched the 2015 crown. Basson, who is searching for a maiden win on the tour, had eight birdies and no bogeys.

Compatriot Schwartzel was one of three players on 5 under par, although the former U.S. Masters champion wasn’t able to finish his final hole before play was suspended until Friday. Schwartzel, a three-time winner of the Alfred Dunhill Championship, had three straight birdies on Nos. 14, 15 and 16 to be tied with Zimbabwe’s Mark Williams and England’s Matt Ford.

Basson overshadowed a trio of South Africans who had attracted most of the attention ahead of the first event of the season: 2011 Masters winner Schwartzel, former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace, who finished third in the Race to Dubai last week, are all starting their 2016 seasons at home.

While Schwartzel was on the leaderboard, No. 15-ranked Oosthuizen opened with a 2-under 70 and No. 18 Grace, this tournament’s defending champion, shot a 71.

Swede Niclas Fasth is playing in his 500th European Tour event and marked the milestone with a 68 for tied fifth.

SYDNEY – Jordan Spieth and Adam Scott struggled to even-par 71s in the hot, windy opening round of the Australian Open on Thursday, leaving the top two-ranked players in the tournament five strokes behind little-known leader Lincoln Tighe.

Spieth and Scott, tied for 19th with 11 others, were in good company. Australia’s Tighe, with seven birdies and two bogeys, had a one-stroke lead after his 66, one of only 18 in the 156-player field who broke par at The Australian Golf Club.

Australia’s Matt Jones, who is a member at The Australian, birdied the par-5 18th for a 67 and was in second place.

Geoff Ogilvy, the 2010 champion who was playing in the same group as Spieth, was two strokes behind after a 68, tied for third with fellow Australian Todd Sinnott and 17-year-old Taiwanese amateur Yu Chun-an.

“Maybe I’ve played here a lot, so I’ve got a little more local knowledge,” Jones said. ‘I actually enjoy playing in wind most of the time, I play well in it.”

The top-ranked Spieth birdied his opening hole and bogeyed his last to go along with birdies on a pair of par-5s and bogeys on two par-3s.

Scott, who hasn’t had a season without a victory since 2001 and is thus far winless this year, had two double-bogeys in three holes but came back with a birdie on the last to match Spieth.

“To have something this windy, it’s been a while,” Spieth said. “The toughest part is when you have the crosswinds and you’ve got to pick what shot to play, because you can use the same club and it can go 30 yards’ difference in the air.”

It could have been worse for Scott – he chipped in from off the green on the ninth for his second double-bogey.

“I walked to the 10th tee kind of with my head held high after making a double, and that’s a good feeling,” he said.

Lee Westwood, the 1997 Australian Open champion, shot 70, as did U.S. Amateur and 2015 NCAA champion Bryson DeChambeau.

The northwest winds of about 40 kilometers per hour (25 mph) shifted to the south late in the day, causing more havoc for the afternoon groups. The high temperature reached 39 degrees Celsius (102 Fahrenheit).

Spieth, who shot a course-record, final-round 63 in similarly tough conditions here last year, was also plagued by poor tee shots Thursday.

“I hit two fairways on the back nine, so when you’re playing out of rough or bunkers, it’s hard to control,” he said. “Conditions were tough but I still could have found the fairways.”

The long-hitting Tighe has advanced to the Dec. 10-13 final stage of the Web.com Tour qualifying tournament in Florida, meaning he won’t defend his New South Wales PGA championship that is being held on the same weekend.

“I’m not surprised to be here,” Tighe said. “The course suits me down to the ground, I can carry a lot of the bunkers. I’m just getting more and more comfortable playing in the bigger tournaments.”

Ogilvy, who has missed five cuts in a row since the U.S. Open, said he putted well thanks to the state of the greens.

“They were incredible, it feels like you’re the first group out there on any hole,” he said. “There’s no evidence that anyone else has walked on them.”

Champions Tour regular Peter Senior, who won last week’s Australian Masters at Huntingdale in Melbourne, shot 80.

BEIJING, China – The Ping An Bank China Tour – PGA TOUR China Series announced that OCT Kunming Wind Valley Club in Yunnan Province will host both of the Tour’s Global Qualifying Tournaments in 2016, events open to players from every country but China.

The application deadline for the first Qualifying Tournament is January 4, 2016, the deadline for the Second Qualifying Tournament January 11, 2016. The first 2016 Qualifying Tournament will be January 12-15, with the second Qualifying Tournament the following week (January 19-22). The site and dates of the Chinese National Qualifying Tournament, open only to China passport holders and China Golf Association professional golfers, will be announced at a later time.

OCT Kunming Wind Valley Club is the home to two courses—the Lake Course and the Mountain Course. The Tour will use a combination of the Lake Course and Mountain Course for the Qualifiers. The Kunming Wind Valley Club is situated near Yangzong Lake and offers views of the body of water as the course winds through hilltops and valleys.

Kunming, a city of more than 6 million and the 16th-most-populated city in China, is no stranger to the Ping An Bank China Tour – PGA TOUR China Series, the city hosting the Yulongwan Yunnan Open in each of the Series’ first two years.

“We’re very familiar with this city, and we very much look forward to holding our 2016 Qualifying Tournaments at a great golf course,” said Greg Carlson, Executive Director of the Ping An Bank China Tour – PGA TOUR China Series. “Our Qualifying Tournaments in both 2014 and 2015 have identified some future stars who have gone on to play on the Web.com Tour. We anticipate a strong group of players will emerge in 2016.”

The Tour will begin accepting applications for the International Qualifying Tournaments on November 26.

All entrants in the Global Qualifying Tournaments will play 18 holes each of the first two days before officials make a cut to the low 100 players at the end of 36 holes.

Both Global Qualifying Tournaments will award full 2016 PGA TOUR China playing privileges to the low-15 qualifiers. In the event of ties, a playoff will be held to determine the final playing card. In addition, the next 20-lowest players will earn 2016 conditional playing status.

In 2015, Canada’s Justin Shin was the medalist, winning by four shots. Shin then went on to win the United Investment Real Estate Wuhan Open. Shin is currently fifth on the 2015 Order of Merit and in position to earn membership on the 2016 Web.com Tour. American Kyle Souza won the Second Global Qualifying Tournament.

The 2016 Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada Qualifying Tournament will take place at four separate sites next spring, with fields of 132 players maximum competing for status.

The four 72-hole, no-cut Qualifying Tournaments will take place at the Jack Nicklaus Signature Course at Reunion Resort in Orlando, Fla. March 21-25, PGA Village’s Wanamaker Course in Port St. Lucie, Florida from March 28 to April 1, Carlton Oaks Country Club in Santee, California from April 25-29 and Crown Isle Resort and Golf Community in Courtenay, British Columbia from May 2-6.

Players will have an opportunity to qualify at one of the four sites, with official details on the number of cards and available status to be announced at a later date.

“Over the past three seasons, we’ve had a great deal of interest from players in qualifying to play on the Mackenzie Tour, and we felt it was important to add a fourth site to give as many players as possible an opportunity to qualify,” said Mackenze Tour President Jeff Monday. “Our goal is to provide opportunities for the best players available to earn access to the Web.com Tour, and we look forward to seeing the next generation of players to make the first step on the path to the PGA TOUR.”

Reunion’s Nicklaus Course, which hosted Mackenzie Tour qualifying in 2014, returns as one of two Florida sites along with PGA Village’s Wanamaker Course, which has previously played host to PGA TOUR and Web.com Tour Q-School as well as the PGA of Canada Assistants’ Championship.

Carlton Oaks, also a previous host to PGA TOUR and Web.com Tour Q-School, will host Mackenzie Tour qualifying for the first time, while the spring’s final Qualifying Tournament will return to Crown Isle Resort and Golf Community in Courtenay, British Columbia, which was recently announced as a host of Mackenzie Tour Qualifying through 2020.

The application to enter Mackenzie Tour qualifying will be open to the public live at PGATOUR.COM/MackenzieTour on January 21, 2016. Entry fees will once again be $2,750 USD.

The full 2016 Mackenzie Tour schedule will be announced in early 2016.

The Canadian Turfgrass Research Foundation(CRTF), in partnership with the Scandinavian Turfgrass and Environment Research Foundation (STERF), have launched a Turfgrass Winter Survival Handbook designed to help golf courses improve their winter tolerance.

Click here to view the handbook (PDF).

Support the PGA of Canada Foundation this holiday season by purchasing a 2016 Inspired Golf Calendar.

All proceeds from calendar sales go towards scholarships and charitable donations through the foundation.

The calendar features images from some of the country’s most iconic venues, including Cabot Links, Cabot Cliffs, Shaughnessy, Banff Springs, Highlands Links, Victoria and Jasper Park Lodge.

The calendars are now available for purchase at inspiredgolf2016.com at a cost of $20 apiece plus taxes, shipping and handling.

Orders are currently shipping, making it a perfect holiday season gift idea.

2016 Inspired Golf calendar – back cover