Englishman Tommy Fleetwood leads the European Tour&aposs Volvo Golf Champions event by one stroke after Saturday&aposs play in Durban.
Fleetwood – who shared the lead with home hope Louis Oosthuizen and Dutchman Joost Luiten at the halfway point of the tournament – claimed the outright advantage thanks to a three-under 69 at the Durban Country Club.
The 22-year-old leads Frenchman Victor Dubuisson and Luiten by one stroke, with Oosthuizen two adrift going into the final day.
Fleetwood, who has an overall score of 10 under, felt that he had played poorly for the majority of the day and was delighted to hold on for the lead.
"When you're not quite on your game, it turns into a very, very difficult course," Fleetwood told the European Tour's official website.
"I played four or five really good holes, but obviously the rest of it, I struggled.
"(If) you miss your tee shots, you're always going to struggle for pars. I made one bogey but the bogey was always coming at some point, so I was quite cool and calm at the end of it.
"Three under around this golf course, when you're not on your game, is an absolutely brilliant score, and so I think it's showing that I'm maturing as a golfer and I can actually score when I'm playing bad."
Birdies on holes three, four, nine and 18 were the high points of Fleetwood's day, and just one bogey – at the par-five 14th – saw him take the lead.
Dubuisson also shot a round of 69, carding five birdies and two bogeys, while Luiten hit 70.
A triple-bogey on the par-four 16th cost defending champion Oosthuizen, but he did at least recover with a birdie on the last.
Oosthuizen's fellow South African, Branden Grace, hit a four-under 68 to move to seven under and outright fifth.
Jamie Donaldson of Wales and Raphael Jacquelin of France are tied for sixth at six under, with Australian Brett Rumford and South African Charl Schwartzel a shot further adrift in a tie for eighth.