Davis Bryant is excited to go into Sunday at the 2026 Magical Kenya Open as one of a host of players in contention for a maiden DP World Tour win.
The American shot a superb 64 on Moving Day to leave himself 16 under par, one shot off the lead held jointly by Casey Jarvis and Angel Ayora.
He has Hennie Du Plessis alongside him and none of those four players has a DP World Tour title to their name - and remarkably the same applies to fifth-placed Francesco Laporta and the sixth-placed trio of Nathan Kimsey, Jacob Skov Olesen and Ricardo Gouveia.
France's Antoine Rozner, 13 under alongside Aaron Cockerill and Ryan van Velzen, is a three-time winner and the only one of those top 11 players with a previous title to his name, leaving a strong prospect of a third successive maiden winner in this event after Jacques Kruyswijk last year and Darius van Driel in 2024.
Bryant, whose round featured seven birdies including five in the first ten holes, said: "I just rolled in some putts on the front. Kind of got up some momentum, got hot a little bit.
“Kind of kept the momentum on nine with the punch out and the par save, so, yeah, very pleased with today, crowds are great - excited for tomorrow.
“I haven't put myself in this position in a while so to be in a good spot going in tomorrow is what you want to do.”
Aggression off the tee has been the 26-year-old's calling card this week, in common with other leading contenders including Jarvis.
He said: “I just hit the driver a little left off the tee on the back nine, not too concerned. Driver's the best club in my bag. Always has been, always probably will be, hopefully.
“So that's the game plan all week and I'll stick to it, keep ripping at it, and it'll go straight eventually!”
Du Plessis has 11 top-ten finishes on the DP World Tour, with a best of joint second at the 2023 Jonsson Workwear Open in his native South Africa.
"I haven’t been in the mix in a DP World Tour event in a while, so I was quite nervous," he said of Saturday's round.
"I birdied 12, 14, 16, 17 and 18, so that’s a great finish. I think it’s always good to finish like that. I am in the hunt again, so I’m very happy.
"I think to get your first victory, I think it just validates the work you’ve put in. I think I am very much a capable player, a good player, and it would be nice to tick that box."
Laporta, 35, is a three-time winner on the HotelPlanner Tour and has 16 top-ten finishes on the DP World Tour including ties for second place at the 2021 AVIV Dubai Championship and the previous year's Golf in Dubai Championship presented by DP World.
Asked what it would mean to finally break through, he said: "Everything. I don’t want to think about the victory. I just want to think about my game and try my best.
"Driver is working good, my short game is in good shape so I am just going to try to do my best tomorrow and I’m glad to be up there again."
