Matthew Baldwin enjoyed a stunning start to the final day of the 2023 SDC Championship to open up a four-shot lead heading into the closing 18 holes at St Francis Links.
The Englishman had four holes left to play of his third round on Sunday morning and headed out tied for the lead at 11 under with playing partner Kristian Krogh Johannessen.
But while the Norwegian's first act of the day was to miss his par putt on the 14th green, Baldwin birdied the 15th, 16th and last to sign for a 65 and get to 14 under.
Johannessen was then at ten under alongside Dutchman Joost Luiten and South African Thriston Lawrence, who had both completed two holes of round four.
Local favourites Jaco Ahlers and Trevor Fisher Jnr, Englishmen Daniel Brown and Ross Fisher, Swede Jens Dantorp and Scot Ewen Ferguson were then six shots off the lead.
If Baldwin were to seal his maiden DP World Tour victory, it would come after 11 years on Tour which have seen plenty of ups and downs.
A European Challenge Tour graduate in 2011, he enjoyed an impressive first three seasons on Tour, comfortably keeping his card and qualifying for the DP World Tour Championship in 2014, the same season he claimed his best finish of second at the Nelson Mandela Championship presented by ISPS HANDA.
He had to shut down his 2015 season in May due to illness and had two operations over the summer before losing his card in 2016.
He was back on Tour for the 2018 season after coming through the Qualifying School and would have been back in 2021 via the Challenge Tour but missed out after the categories were frozen due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
A 19th-placed finish on last season's Road to Mallorca now sees him in his seventh full season on Tour as he looks for an elusive first victory.
After seeing Johannessen slip out of the lead on the 14th green, Baldwin birdied the 15th and while he also made a gain on the next, the lead stayed at two as Johannessen also made a birdie.
A Johannessen bogey on the next made it a three-shot advantage before a closing gain put Baldwin in control.
