Pre-tournament favourite Charl Schwartzel went clear of Marco Crespi in the third round of the South African Open Championship hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni.
Schwartzel, a former Masters Tournament champion, and Crespi, each hit three birdies and a bogey on the outward nine, but the former birdied the par four tenth to go clear on 15 under.
Hennie Otto, like Schwartzel a South African, produced the round of the day so far, birdying seven of the last eight holes for a seven under par 65 that put him one behind Crespi.
Level with Otto is Morten Ørum Madsen, who was two under on a gloriously sunny day at Glendower GC in this first event of the 2014 Race to Dubai.
Earlier, Magnus A Carlsson and Jaco van Zyl fired 66s to put pressure on the leaders.
Carlsson, of Sweden, hit nine birdies and South African van Zyl eight to move to 10 under and nine under respectively.
