Zander Lombard saw his lead cut to one shot heading into the final round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge after firing a battling 72 at Gary Player Country Club.
The world number 234 entered day three two ahead but dropped three shots in as many holes from the sixth to find himself trailing 2010 British Open champion and fellow South African Louis Oosthuizen.
He reclaimed a share of the lead on the ninth and then came home in 34 to sit at 11 under, one shot clear of Oosthuizen and Belgian Thomas Detry.
Englishman Oliver Wilson was then at eight under after a 67, alongside Swede Marcus Kinhult.
The performance represents a big upturn in form for Lombard, who had to go back to the qualifying school last season and missed eight cuts in a row in the middle of the season.
“I’m still in the lead,” he told europeantour.com. “I’ve got to stay positive and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.
“I don’t want to sound cocky but it’s been a long time coming. I’ve really made big strides in how I do things on and off the golf course. It’s nice to get some feedback and some results from the hard work.”
Oosthuizen almost did not play this week and was in pain with kidney stones just hours before his Thursday tee time but he carded a 71 to stay right in contention alongside Detry, who recorded a 69.
The highlight of Wilson’s 67 was a chip-in on the 15th, while Kinhult recovered from being three over after six holes in a 70.
Defending champion Lee Westwood and fellow Englishman Aaron Rai were at six under, four shots clear of Scotsman Robert MacIntyre, who carded the lowest round of the day with a 65.
Ryder Cup captain Pádraig Harrington carded a one-over 73 to return to level par with a round to play.
LEADERBOARD
British unless stated, par 72
205 Zander Lombard (Rsa) 68 65 72
206 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 63 72 71, Thomas Detry (Bel) 66 71 69
208 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 69 69 70, Oliver Wilson 69 72 67
210 Jason Scrivener (Aus) 69 70 71, Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 69 70 71, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 70 70 70, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 71 69 70, Aaron Rai 70 69 71, Lee Westwood 68 73 69
211 Tommy Fleetwood 69 69 73, Joost Luiten (Ned) 72 70 69, Nacho Elvira (Esp) 70 70 71
212 Guido Migliozzi (Ita) 67 73 72, Alvaro Quiros (Esp) 70 70 72
213 Tom Lewis 71 73 69, Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa) 70 73 70, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 74 70 69, Matthew Fitzpatrick 71 69 73
214 Sebastian Soderberg (Swe) 69 72 73, Robert Macintyre 73 76 65, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 70 72 72, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 74 71 69
215 Kurt Kitayama (USA) 70 72 73, Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 72 71 72, Alex Noren (Swe) 73 69 73, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 72 71 72, Jorge Campillo (Esp) 69 72 74, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 74 70 71, George Coetzee (Rsa) 69 73 73
216 Pádraig Harrington (Ire) 71 72 73, Scott Jamieson 73 71 72
217 Steven Brown 73 75 69, Gavin Green (Mal) 74 70 73, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 72 73 72
218 Matt Wallace 73 74 71, Paul Waring 69 71 78, Ian Poulter 74 71 73
219 Adri Arnaus (Esp) 74 73 72, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 73 75 71, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 72 73 74, Jordan Smith 73 74 72, Romain Langasque (Fra) 73 74 72
220 Haotong Li (Chn) 73 76 71, Justin Harding (Rsa) 73 78 69, Scott Hend (Aus) 77 73 70, Richie Ramsay 72 78 70, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 76 73 71, Pablo Larrazabal (Esp) 76 72 72
221 Ernie Els (Rsa) 68 81 72, Branden Grace (Rsa) 74 75 72, Matthew Southgate 72 79 70, Chris Paisley 75 74 72, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 73 76 72
222 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 70 74 78, Andy Sullivan 75 73 74
223 Ryan Fox (Nzl) 74 75 74, David Lipsky (USA) 72 74 77, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 72 75 76
225 Richard Sterne (Rsa) 69 79 77
231 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 81 75 75, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 77 74 80
