George Coetzee saw Trevor Fisher Jnr reduce his lead to a single shot on day three of the Investec Cup at the Lost City course.
Fisher carded a five under par 67 to move to ten under for the tournament, one behind Coetzee who had two bogeys in his two under par 70.
Coetzee was cruising along, with two birdies in his first three holes giving him a four shot lead.
But then things went a little quiet for him, and bogeys on eight and ten saw him drop back into the clutches of his pursuers.
It stayed quiet until he reached the 16th, and he took the riskier option of driver off the tee. “I don’t feel comfortable with three-wood on the tee,” he said, “so I took driver there, and hit my approach to a foot to set up the birdie.”
That took him into a share of the lead with Fisher, and he made his fourth birdie of the day on the 18th to draw one clear going into the final round.
There was some real action further down the field too: Defending champion Jaco van Zyl rediscovered his putting stroke with a new putter on his way to a seven under par 65 which lifted him to eight under for the tournament.
Jacques Blaauw seemed to be sailing under the radar until his eagle three on the 18th for a 67 saw him climb to nine under for the tournament in a share of third with Keith Horne, who carded a three under par 69.
And Dawie van der Walt had the round of the day after something of a lacklustre start in the opening two rounds which were played at Millvale Private Retreat. He stormed home in eight under par 64, and, after being stuck in a share of 14th at the halfway mark, he found himself sharing fifth with Van Zyl – and within striking distance.
