Tommy Fleetwood made two eagles around the turn to leap into a three way tie for the lead heading into the closing stages of the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player.
The Englishman started the day at Gary Player Country Club six shots off the lead but wiped that deficit out in his first 11 holes to get to 11 under and share top spot with local favourite Louis Oosthuizen and Swede Marcus Kinhult.
A win for Fleetwood would put him right in contention to claim a second Race to Dubai title in three years next week but the season long race to be Europe's Number One was in flux at the seventh Rolex Series event of the season.
Race to Dubai leader Bernd Wiesberger was just two shots off the lead and a win today could see him claim the crown with a week to spare.
Jason Scrivener and Thomas Detry were also at nine under, a shot clear of Robert MacIntyre.
Kinhult made a big early move as he holed from 15 feet on the first and produced an excellent chip on the par five next to get within one.
Detry put his tee shot on the second left into the bushes but found his ball, played out and got up and down for an incredible birdie, with Oosthuizen also joining the lead after hitting the green in two.
Kinhult made it a four way tie as he holed a long, very fast putt on the third but Oosthuizen soon jumped ahead on his own with a putt from the fringe on the fourth.
Kinhult holed from 15 feet on the sixth to join the lead but overnight leader Zander Lombard and Detry took a step in the other direction.
Lombard found horrible positions with both his first and third on the fifth for a double bogey, while Detry three putted the same hole.
Kinhult three putted the seventh to leave Oosthuizen alone at the top and Lombard dropped another shot on the sixth.
Fleetwood had made an incredible bunker save for par on the first and then birdied the second with two putts, holed a 25 foot left to righter on the fifth and made another gain on the sixth to edge up the leaderboard.
A chip-in eagle on the par five ninth saw him turn in 31 and he was suddenly just two off the lead.
The Ryder Cup hero was flying and he put his second to 15 feet at the par five tenth for a second consecutive eagle.
He led on his own when Oosthuizen three putted the eighth but sent his tee shot into the rough on the 11th and dropped back into a three way tie.
Another three putt from Detry had dropped him to nine under alongside Scrivener, who picked up shots on the first, second and fifth.
Wiesberger joined that group as he took advantage of the tenth after gains on the third, fifth and sixth and a bogey on the eighth.
