In his third consecutive appearance at The Open Championship, Thriston Lawrence played his way into contention to win his first Major Championship at The 152nd Open on a dramatic day where the changeable British weather brought the field back together at Royal Troon.
Beginning the third round at three over, ten shots adrift of 36-hole leader Shane Lowry, Lawrence capitalised on calm conditions on his front nine before staying tough as the rain arrived to card a six-under-par 65 - matching the best score of the week - to finish at three under, one shot adrift of 54-hole leader Billy Horschel.
Reflecting on whether his goals have changed following his big move on Saturday, he said: "I teed it up on Thursday trying to win. Whatever happens in between up until Sunday is out of my control, but the game plan doesn't change and the mentality doesn't change.
"Hopefully I'm in with a couple of shots going tomorrow, but I'm going to just try to do the same thing, be aggressive and try to win a golf tournament."
Here are five things to know about one of the DP World Tour's most prominent South African golfers, who will be in the final group on Sunday.
His transition from successful amateur to the paid ranks
With victories at the South African Amateur Championship in both 2013 and 2014, Lawrence became the first player to win the honour back-to-back for 36 years. Away from his homeland, he earned further international recognition as an amateur by winning the prestigious Lytham Trophy at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, two years on from having watched countryman Ernie Els win the Open Championship for a second time at the same venue. Rounds of 72-69-72-68 saw him finish one stroke ahead of the Netherlands’ Darius van Driel, a fellow future DP World Tour member. Over the following couple of years, he split his time by playing predominantly on the EuroPro Tour and the Challenge Tour. After joining the paid ranks in 2014, he won his first title as a professional on the MENA Tour at the 2015 Ras Al Khaimah Classic, overcoming former Open champion Darren Clarke in a five-man play-off. It was a result that helped him top the Order of Merit that season. Alongside starts on the Sunshine Tour, he gained further international experience on the European Challenge Tour but missed seven cuts in ten starts. He would have to wait until 2018 for his second piece of silverware came at on the Big Easy Tour, a developmental tour in based in his homeland. Later that year, he gained his card for the 2019-20 campaign on the Sunshine Tour and quickly went on to win at the Vodacom Origins of Golf at Stellenbosch.
First winner of the DP World Tour era
His big breakthrough came at the 2021 Joburg Open, co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour, in the inaugural event of the DP World Tour era. With the event already reduced to 54 holes after the emergence of a new Covid-19 variant, inclement weather then led to the scheduled third round being abandoned. He had opened up a four-shot lead with a pair of 65s at Randpark Golf Club. Victory in his 22nd DP World Tour start saw him earn DP World Tour exemption through to the end of the 2023 campaign but better was still to come.
Rise to prominence continues
After his perfect start to the 2022 season, Lawrence continued to impress with a sequence of three consecutive top tens in Africa. After making his Major Championship debut at the historic 150th Open at St Andrews, he landed his second DP World Tour victory at the Omega European Masters in Switzerland. That win saw him climb into the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time, before another landmark moment came when he was named as the first South African to win the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award. He claimed his third DP World Tour in his national Open towards the start of the 2023 Race to Dubai campaign before a fourth DP World Tour title in 19 months followed at the BMW International Open in Germany in June 2023, emulating Ernie Els as just the second South African winner. The win was made more emotional as it came shortly after a difficult stretch of starts on American soil in which he made just one cut.
A love for fishing
Many people escape from work by playing golf. However, Lawrence likes to get away from the pressures of the game by going fishing. He is not alone on the DP World Tour, with New Zealander Ryan Fox another keen angler. Such is Lawrence's passion for fishing, he created a dedicated Instagram account called golfergonefishing.
Playing status on PGA TOUR on the horizon
With ten PGA TOUR cards available via the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex to the highest finishers not already exempt, Lawrence will hope to boost his development by becoming a dual member. With five top tens already so far this season on the DP World Tour, the 27-year-old sits 15th on the season-long standings. Going into The Open, he was ninth in the list of players who are not already exempt on the PGA TOUR, so with big points on offer at the final Major of the season will be looking to improve his bid for status stateside with a strong final round in Ayrshire.
