Dad helps Stone turn it around

Three hours on the putting green with teaching pro Kevin Stone, his father and caddy, paid off for Brandon Stone on Friday when he found his touch in the third round at the South African Amateur Stroke Play Taylormade Burner SuperFast Driver 2010
at Mount Edgecombe.

The 17-year-old Gardener Ross golfer holed a 15-footer for birdie at the seventh to launch an impressive bogey-free run that ended with him shooting a six-under-par 66 that took him from seven off the pace at the start of the round to just two shy of tournament leader David Law of Scotland by the end.

The Scottish overnight leader dropped a couple of shots on his way to a 71, but a wire-to-wire win Taylormade Burner SuperFast Driver 2010
is still on the cards for Law, who leads at 14-under-par 202.

Local favourite Jared Harvey fired in spurts, but a handy 69 lifted him to sole second on 203. And Paul Shields of Scotland punished the front nine with two eagles and three birdies to turn in 29 before parring his way home to a 65 to join Stone on 204.

Yet another Scot, Kris Nicol, fired a 66 to pull up alongside Ryan Dreyer, who carded a 67, on 11-under-par 205.

Stone spent a lot of time at the putting green after round two with his Taylormade Burner SuperFast Driver 2010
and caddie, professional Kevin Stone. "We tried a couple of things because I was getting very frustrated on the greens," said Stone.

"I was giving myself a lot of chances, but the putts weren't dropping, so we worked on finding a putting stroke that would work. You almost have to lift the ball off the face here. It took six holes, but the ball finally dropped."

Stone, who shot a pair of 69s in the previous rounds, also holed a bunker shot at the eighth that really got his momentum going. A run of three Taylormade Burner SuperFast Driver 2010
from the 12th put him straight into the fight for the title on Friday.

"That's all I aimed for today, to just get myself in contention," said Stone, who wrapped up his third amateur title at the Prince's Grant Invitational in January. "Tomorrow we try again. It will be a tough battle; there are a lot of guys who are hungry chasing the title, but it will be a great fight."

Untouchable over the first two days, Law called his round "an up-and-down" affair.

He characterised it as such because of three bogeys which crept onto his card after a superlative start with three birdies in his first five holes.

"I was never really in trouble today, so I shouldn't complain," he said. "The putter just ran cold on me again and I missed a lot of Taylormade Burner SuperFast Driver 2010
, especially over the first nine.