Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel will share a five-shot lead heading into the final round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship after dominating day three at Leopard Creek Country Club.
Oosthuizen set the target at 15 under as he tied the course record with a 63 before Schwartzel came home in 31 to join him at the top after a 65.
Fellow South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout and England's Andy Sullivan were the nearest challengers, one clear of another Englishman in Marco Penge and China's Wu Ashun.
Schwartzel is a four-time winner of this event, with four runner-up finishes at Leopard Creek, while Oosthuizen has also finished second twice over this layout.
Oosthuizen carded seven birdies and an eagle in his nine under effort and is determined to finally get over the line in Malelane.
"It's the one event that I've really wanted on my CV," he said. "I've come close a few times and I've messed it up a lot of times so tomorrow if I can stay calm like I did today and do the same things and give myself opportunities on the greens I think I've got a good shot.
"I've been on the bad side of this golf course for a long time. It's such a good track, you just need to hit your shots, you can't always just play away from trouble.
"There are certain holes you need to take it on and make good swings and I stuck to that today and didn't back off on tough shots and hopefully I can do the same tomorrow."
Oosthuizen made a fast start with approaches to ten and four feet at the third and fourth and when he drove the par-four sixth to six feet and made the eagle putt, he was in a share of top spot with overnight leader Casey Jarvis.
Penge made it a three-way tie from 12 feet at the first and made a two-putt birdie on the par-five second before putting an approach to ten feet at the fourth to lead by two.
He three-putted the next but hit back on the sixth with a two-putt gain, although Oosthuizen was about to wipe out his advantage.
The 41-year-old left himself a short birdie putt on the 11th with the help of a big drive and then got up and down on the 13th as he and Penge moved three ahead of the chasing pack.
Oosthuizen then holed a slippery right-to-lefter on the 14th and left himself nine feet at the next after laying up, with a Penge bogey on the 11th handing him a three-shot lead.
Penge cut the gap to two when he got up and down from the sand at the 13th but Oosthuizen once again played a smart lay-up at the last, leaving himself four feet for a three-shot advantage.
That was soon trimmed back to two, however as Schwartzel made a back-nine charge of his own.
The 39-year-old had got up and down from the sand at the fourth and holed from ten feet at the next before dropping a shot on the seventh.
A tee-shot to inside ten feet at the 12th was followed by an approach to similar range at the 14th and he then drained a left-to-righter from beyond 20 feet for eagle on the 15th.
An 18-footer on the 17th trimmed the gap to one and he shared top spot after laying up and hitting a smart pitch into the last.
“We’ve been friends for a long time and we’ve played this game for a long time," Schwartzel said of the prospect of facing Oosthuizen. "I don’t think we’ll treat it any other way than just trying our best and let the outcome be what it will.
"We're both playing well so it probably comes down to the guy who makes the least mistakes tomorrow.
"I'm just having so much fun being healthy. You don't realise how much injuries hamper you when you've got them because you just sort of work around them.
"All of a sudden, last week and this week there has been nothing and I can free flow and hit the ball like I used to."
Sullivan left himself five feet on the first and holed from the fringe on the sixth but dropped a shot on the seventh before taking advantage of the par-five 13th and 15th. A dropped shot came on the 17th but the two-time winner in South Africa holed an 18-footer for eagle on the last to get to double figures after a 69.
Bezuidenhout turned in level par with two birdies and two bogeys but made four birdies in a row from the tenth, the highlight a stunning tee-shot into the 12th, in his 68.
Penge dropped shots on the 14th, 15th and 17th to slip to a 72 and sit alongside Wu, who signed for a 69, one ahead of a group of six players at eight under including Jarvis.
