Robin Williams geared for take-off at Turkish Airlines Open
There's a tiny part of Robin Williams that would love to celebrate success in a DP World Tour tournament with his dad on his bag, but the big-hitting South African knows golf and knows not to get ahead of himself as he heads into the final round of the Turkish Airlines Open in a share of second place.
After an opening nine of one-over-par in the third round on Saturday on the Regnum Carya course in Antalya, Türkiye, he birdied the problematic 10th to get a sublime homeward nine on track.
Robin Williams made five birdies on that nine on his way to a four-under-par 67, and – at 11-under-par – sits three shots behind England's Brandon Robinson Thompson, together with Haotong Li of China and Jorge Campillo of Spain.
'My dad mentioned on the flight over here about how Robert MacIntyre won with his father on the bag at the RBC Canadian Open, but I told him that we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves,' said Robin Williams.
'The main thing this week has been for me and my dad to just have fun. My dad doesn't get to caddie for me many times. I could probably count them on one hand since I was 11 years old – so, it's good to have him on the bag and experience this whole moment together. We've made ourselves proud so far, so we're playing with house money at the moment.'
That relaxed attitude helped him deal with bogeys on five and seven after he had made birdie on four.
'Even though the front nine was a bit difficult, there were no mental struggles going on,' he said.
'I was just trying to just keep up with Haotong out there; he was playing super well on the front line. But I think I've played the back nine pretty well this week, so I knew there was some chances coming up and I made sure I capitalised on them.
'The back nine has more scoring opportunities than the front. I was putting well on the front nine, just not really making them. I missed a few short ones for par, but I knew once I got into my stride, I could move up the leaderboard.'
He pumped his drive on the 10th 326 yards up the fairway, easily taking the water that lurks all down the left out of the equation and then deposited his approach inside four feet for an easy birdie.
He picked up three more birdies on 12, 13 and 15 with strong tee-shots paving the way, and then he made a fantastic 14-footer for par on 16 to maintain the momentum he could so easily have lost with a bogey.
'I'd completely duffed my second shot with pitching wedge and left myself in a horrible spot,' he said.
'I tried to leave myself a putt with the chip on to the green, but I gave it too much spin, so it was good to make that great one down the hill.'
And then came a closing birdie which took him within three of the lead: Once again, he launched his driver over the water, carrying 343 yards into the left rough and 83 yards left to the pin. He left himself just inside 30 feet for his birdie putt and made it.
'I've birdied the 18th every day. I just hit driver there and give myself a short club in,' he said.
'Hopefully tomorrow, I can use that momentum. It's all you can ask for is to be there on a Sunday, and especially on the back nine on Sunday, to be in contention. I'm going to give it a run.'
Robinson Thompson had a superb course record-equalling 62 as he jumped to 14-under and the lead.
'Obviously, I wasn't really thinking about it,' he said, 'but I'm super excited again to have another nice round and get it going. The scary part was I probably could have had a few more, but, you know, beggars can't be choosers.'
Behind Robin Williams, Wilco Nienaber just couldn't get anything going, despite feeling bullish about his newly-tweaked driver.
It helped him in the first two rounds, but he couldn't capitalise on similar accuracy and distance in his third round as well as he did in the second.
He made bogeys on three and 12, and a whole lot of battling pars in between.
Eventually, a big drive on 18 set him up for his only birdie of the day, and he'll hope that gives him momentum for the final round as he goes into Sunday on eight-under in a share of 13th.
Dylan Frittelli's two-under 69 put him on a share of 39th on four-under, Jayden Schaper's level-par 71 had him on two-under in a share of 53rd, and Dylan Naidoo slumped to a five-over 76 to slip to a share of 63rd on three-over.
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