Madalitso Muthiya made an early birdie to take a one-shot lead in the third round of the South African Open hosted by the City of Johannesburg.
The Zambian entered the week ranked 1330th in the Official World Golf Ranking but he has looked like a world beater at Randpark Golf Club, and that birdie in his first three holes moved him to 12 under.
Home favourite Louis Oosthuizen was then at 11 under, one clear of overnight leader Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace, Kurt Kitayama, Matt Wallace and Mark Williams.
There was a 20-minute delay due to the threat of storms but the sun was out by the time the final group hit away and plenty of early birdies to be had.
Grace holed a ten-footer on the first and a lengthy putt on the second to get into double figures but that was a shot back of Oosthuizen, who holed a long putt of his own on the opening hole.
That soon had him in a share of the lead as Schwartzel went left off the tee and missed a short putt for par on the first to drop to 11 under.
Grace bogeyed the third and dropped back alongside playing partner Wallace, who holed an eight-footer for birdie.
Muthiya was just off the green with his second into the second but took the putter out and holed a very long right-to-lefter to hit the front on his own.
A Schwartzel three-putt on the third then dropped him to ten under alongside Kitayama, who started his day with three straight pars.
Ahead at the fourth, Grace and Wallace both played the par five in textbook fashion to move to ten under.
Williams was the third member of that group and he also made a birdie to get into double figures, a shot ahead of Jbe Kruger.
Zander Lombard was two over through three holes to sit at nine under, one ahead of a group of six players.
