South Africa's Ernie Els was defending a precarious lead as lightning on the course brought a temporary halt to Sergio Garcia's aggressive chase in the two-million-dollar Sun City Golf Challenge today.
Els, who had started the day with a three-stroke advantage, earlier surged to a five-shot lead before Spain's Garcia began closing in.
At the siren suspending play, the Spaniard was within a single stroke of joining Els at the top of the leaderboard.
Els appeared headed for his third straight victory at Sun City as he opened his day with birdies at the second and third holes, but a dry spell of level-par holes gave Garcia a realistic shot at upsetting Els' hat trick bid.
Garcia, the world number five, made an eagle at the par-4 third on his way to a 32 over the front nine. Another three birdies after the turn pegged him at 18-under-par and just one stroke off the pace.
The Spaniard was 7-under for the day after 13 holes and headed for a round of 65.
Ireland’s Padraig Harrington is seven shots off the pace with six holes left to play.
AFP