Louis Oosthuizen and Lee Westwood joined Sergio Garcia at the top of the leaderboard as the final day of the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player got into full swing in Sun City.
Garcia was looking for a second consecutive win at the seventh Rolex Series event of the season and entered the day at Gary Player Country Club with a two-shot lead.
Fellow Major Championship winner Ooshuizen and former World Number One Westwood were not going to let him have it all his own way, however, and joined him on nine under after four holes.
Belgian Thomas Detry made an early birdie to sit just a shot back, one ahead of England's Ross Fisher and two clear of Finn Mikko Korhonen.
China's Li Haotong was then four off the lead.
Garcia and Westwood have both won this event twice before it joined the European Tour International Schedule, with the Englishman claiming a third win in Sun City on the Sunshine Tour.
Oosthuizen also has a win at Gary Player Country Club in the Dimension Data Pro-Am, while Detry is seeking his first European Tour victory.
It was all change very early as Garcia found the sand with his second shot on the first and failed to get up and down.
That cut his lead to one and the advantage was soon gone when Westwood hit a stunning second to four feet on the par-five second for an eagle and a share.
Garcia failed to get up and down from a bunker again on the second but still made par on the long hole, while a nice chip from over the back by Detry helped him to eight under.
Oosthuizen was a good way from the hole on third green but his putt took a huge left-to-right break right at the last minute and there was a three-way tie for the lead.
Fisher hit a poor tee-shot on the second and had to lay up but still made a smart birdie, while Korhonen dropped a shot on the first.
Li needs a win this week to keep his Race to Dubai hopes alive and he turned in 31 with birdies on first, sixth, seventh and an eagle on the ninth.
Dean Burmester, Benjamin Hebert, Chris Paisley and Matt Wallace were four under.
