Scott Jamieson and Zander Lombard sat at the top of a very congested leaderboard midway through the third round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship.
David Lipsky entered day three at Leopard Creek Country Club with a one-shot lead but found himself in a seven-way tie before Jamieson and Lombard struck out at eight under.
Raphaël Jacquelin and Pablo Larrazábal were in the clubhouse at seven under alongside American Lipsky, defending champion Brandon Stone and Scot David Drysdale, all of whom were playing the back nine.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Ben Evans and Niklas Lemke were then two shots off the lead.
Drysdale dropped a shot on the first and was replaced at six under by playing partner Darren Fichardt who made a birdie.
Fichardt then made it a birdie-birdie start on the par-five second to get within one and he was soon alongside Lipsky, who did well to drop a single shot on the same hole after finding trouble off the tee, taking a drop and topping his fourth.
Playing partner Jamieson took full advantage, getting on the green in two and hitting a lovely lag putt to secure a birdie and the lead.
Fichardt was enjoying a flying start and he put his approach on the fourth to six feet for another birdie and a share of top spot.
Qualifying School co-winner Lombard birdied the fourth from six feet and then hit wonderful tee-shots into the par-three fifth and seventh to move to seven under.
Lipsky bounced back in style on the third with an approach to three feet and he was back in a three-way tie for the lead.
Larrazábal did not look likely to make a big impact when he turned in 33 with birdies on the sixth and ninth but further gains on the 11th, 12th, 14th and 15th had him in a share.
He found sand off the tee on the par-three next to drop a shot and was alongside Jacquelin who set the target.
The 44 year old had birdies on the first, second and sixth and, while he dropped a shot on the eighth, he made further gains on the tenth, 11th, 14th and 17th.
Drysdale had also moved his way back to seven under with a birdie on the fourth and an eight-foot putt on the sixth.
Jamieson bogeyed the sixth and with Lipsky finding sand off the tee at the par-three seventh, Fichardt had the the solo lead.
Stone had earlier birdied the fourth and he chipped in at the tenth to join the expanding group at seven under.
Fichardt found water off the tee at the ninth and then four-putted for a triple-bogey to slip to five under and there was a seven-way tie at the top.
Lombard had been brilliant on the par-threes and he almost aced the 12th to jump out of the pack and take the lead, where he was soon joined by Jamieson from eight feet at the ninth.
Bezuidenhout birdied the second, third and fifth, adding three in a row from the 13th, before bogeying the 16th and birdieing the last in a 66.
Evans and Lemke were two under for the day after 12 holes, one clear of Ernie Els, Marc Warren, Jeff Winther and Adilson da Silva.
