Chris Paisley opened up a two-stroke lead at the turn during the third round of the BMW SA Open Championship Proudly hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni at Glendower Golf Club.
Paisley and France's Adrien Saddier set a halfway target of 13 under par following impressive second round displays, but it was the Englishman who took control with a two under front nine.
The World Number 289 managed to rescue an opening par after finding the bunker with his second shot before he had a long eagle chance at the par five second.
Paisley lipped out from the fringe and had to settle for a birdie as he extended the lead to 14 under.
Saddier did not drop a shot in his first two rounds and continued his flawless form after three holes with a par-birdie-par start.
The Frenchman bogeyed for the first in the tournament at the fourth before regaining the stroke at the par five eighth with a birdie, only to drop a stroke at the ninth to lie 13 under at the turn.
Paisley maintained his one-shot advantage when he was forced to make another great par save at the seventh, but he scored his second gain at the eighth and when the his French playing partner dropped a shot at the ninth, he was two strokes clear on 15 under.
Player host Ernie Els finished the day on five under for the tournament as fellow South African Darren Fichardt produced the round of the day to sit in sole third place on 11 under following an eight-under par 64, which contained nine birdies and one dropped shot, as the leaderboard started to become congested.
Seven players were a shot further back with two-time US Open Championship winner Retief Goosen among a trio of South Africans along with Trevor Fisher Jr. and Jacques Blaauw at ten under, while Spain's Jorge Campillo, Dane Jeff Winther, France's Matthieu Pavon and American Chase Koepka were also on that mark.
JC Ritchie shot a seven-under par 65 to move to nine-under for the tournament and he was joined by compatriots Branden Grace and amateur Kyle McClatchie alongside England's Richard Bland.
