Steve Webster rediscovered his form to set the clubhouse target early on day three of the Joburg Open.
Low scoring was again the order of the day at Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club – the action having settled on the East Course for the weekend after each of the 210-man field played the East and West set-ups over the first two rounds.
And it was Webster, whose last top-ten finish on The European Tour came more than a year ago, who led the way with a flawless seven under par 65.
That put the 40 year old, who captured the last of his two titles in 2007, 12 under par and in a share of the lead with overnight leader Wallie Coetsee – who was yet to tee off – and another South African, Jacques Blaauw, who turned in a five under par 32.
"I made a good birdie at the first and a good save at the second and just got on a bit of a roll," Webster said. "I missed three or four 12-footers which was frustrating but there was a lot of really good golf today.
"I gave myself a lot of chances and that's what my game is all about."
South Africans have won the last five stagings of this event, and with Garth Mulroy, Tjaart van der Walt and Justin Walters joining England’s Simon Dyson a shot behind there was every chance of that run continuing.
Coetsee followed three opening pars with a three-putt bogey at the fourth, and instead it was defending champion George Coetzee who joined Blaauw and Webster in a tie for the lead.
Coetzee followed an outward 34 with a birdie from 20 feet at the tenth.
Mulroy had also briefly joined the group on 12 under, but failed to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker on the short fifth and then fired his second to the par five sixth into the trees to slip off the pace.
Dyson managed to make birdie at the fifth despite driving into a fairway bunker to make it a four-way tie at the top, with his compatriot Paul Waring and South African Chris Swanepoel both completing rounds of 67 to reach the clubhouse at 11 under.
On an increasingly congested leaderboard the top 17 players were covered by just two shots.
Dyson, who won the last of his six European Tour titles five years ago, missed a glorious opportunity to grab the outright lead when he three-putted the eighth after reaching in two.
Blaauw, meanwhile, parred his way in for a 67 to join Webster on 12 under in the clubhouse.
Webster was finally overtaken by overnight leader Coetsee, who had played his first ten holes in one over par but then birdied the 11th, 12th and 13th to improve to 14 under.
That was two ahead of Webster, Blaauw and David Howell in the clubhouse - Howell having completed a 68 - with Anthony Wall and Van der Walt also 12 under with four and five holes remaining respectively.
