Henrik Stenson admitted he was reliant on a hot putter for the second day running during a sun-baked third round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City.
The Swede had not been sure he would play earlier in the week as he was laid low by a virus but opening rounds of 66-67 got him to the top of the leaderboard and he showed some brilliant form with the short stick during an inward nine of 31 on Friday.
That form continued into day three as he made a series of clutch putts to open up a three-shot lead on the back nine before a stunning finish from Marc Leishman and two bogeys in three holes from Stenson dropped him a shot off the summit.
And while the 2013 Race to Dubai winner admitted his game was not in the best shape on Saturday, he was happy to stay in contention on a tricky day.
"I was feeling better when I started but playing in 38 degrees certainly takes it out of you, so after the first ten, 11 holes I was really struggling," he said. "I tried to make up some ground, which I did, but I gave it back in the last three holes.
All in all I didn't play very well today and the short game and the putter kept the score together and that's why I'm still at the races tomorrow - Henrik Stenson
"The whole front nine was kind of adventurous. The winds were swirling round so much it makes Amen Corner at Augusta look like a standstill. This was as tricky as it gets. You get three different wind directions in 30 seconds. On the tenth the last few days it's been all over the place."
The 39 year old created one of the images of day as his birdie putt on the ninth looked for all the world like it was going to stay up before Stenson pointed towards the hole only to see the ball drop in.
The World Number Seven was happy to admit that he does not actually possess the power to control gravity, though, and soon lost patience with the ball after failing to birdie the tenth.
"On nine it switched a little bit and my second shot just made it over the hazard line and I had to play it sideways to get it on the green, then I could see the putt was eventually going to fall and it was pretty good timing with the little nudge," he said.
"It listened and I kept that ball, but on the tenth it stopped listening so I gave it away!"
Jaco Van Zyl leads the South African challenge after a level par 72 left him four shots off the lead and he admitted he had endured a frustrating day.
"It was just one of those days," he said. "I just missed it by either a foot short of a foot long, or a foot left or a foot right and I just happened to be in the wrong spots the whole day.
"I don't feel like I'm out of it by any means. But to win an event, you kind of need a couple of lucky breaks and things need to turn around for me. I've got to make them turn around. It's a combination of will, determination and with that - what the golfing gods throw at you on the day.
"I'm just fighting the swing a little bit. It's just not quite on song. And it's 36 degrees out there.
"It's week six in a row for me, so all of those things do start adding up at the end of the year and the last thing you want to do is be out there fighting your swing and fighting the golf course."
