Louis Oosthuizen closes in on South African Open title

Louis Oosthuizen will take a three-shot lead into the final round of the South African Open after firing a battling 67 on day three in Johannesburg.

The 2010 Open champion entered the weekend two shots behind fellow South African Charl Schwartzel but the 2011 Masters winner will now have to do the chasing after a disappointing 72.

Oosthuizen moved to 14 under at Randpark Golf Club, with England’s Matt Wallace and Zambian world number 1,330 Madalitso Muthiya at 11 under alongside Schwartzel.

Oosthuizen holed a long putt for birdie on the first and capitalised on the par-five fourth before handing the shot straight back on the next.

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An excellent approach into the sixth helped him turn in 33 and he completed a hat-trick of birdies on par fives as he got up and down from bunkers on the 12th and 14th before birdieing the par-three 15th from 15 feet for a four-shot lead.

A bogey after finding sand off the tee at the par-three 17th removed some of the gloss but Oosthuizen was pleased with his day’s work.

“It was tough again but I played well,” he told europeantour.com. “Eighteen more holes of good golf and I just need to take one shot at a time.”

Schwartzel recovered from bogeys on the first and third with a birdie on the 12th, while Wallace carded a 68 as he looks for a fourth win of 2018.

Muthiya overcame two double-bogeys in a level-par 71, with Scot Robert McIntyre and four-time Major champion Ernie Els then in a group of eight players six shots off the lead.

Collated third round scores & totals in the European Tour South African Open hosted by the City of Johannesburg, Randpark GC, Johannesburg, South Africa (Britain unless stated, par 71):

199 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 62 70 67

202 Matt Wallace 65 69 68, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 67 63 72, Madalitso Muthiya (Zam) 63 68 71

205 Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 66 70 69, Branden Grace (Rsa) 66 68 71, Jeff Winther (Den) 68 69 68, Ernie Els (Rsa) 66 71 68, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 66 67 72, Robert Macintyre 70 67 68, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 67 69 69, Mark Williams (Zim) 65 68 72

206 Kurt Kitayama (USA) 63 69 74, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 68 70 68, Jake Roos (Rsa) 66 72 68, Stuart Manley 67 71 68, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 64 68 74, Romain Langasque (Fra) 69 68 69, Matias Calderon (Chi) 68 71 67, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 69 69 68, Daniel Greene (Rsa) 70 68 68

207 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 67 68 72, (a) Jovan Rebula (Rsa) 67 70 70, Anthony Michael (Rsa) 67 71 69, Oliver Wilson 73 66 68, Yi-Keun Chang (Kor) 70 65 72, Chris Paisley 70 70 67, 208 Steven Brown 71 68 69, David Mcintyre (Rsa) 66 72 70, Bryce Easton (Rsa) 68 69 71, Joel Girrbach (Swi) 70 69 69, Ewan Ferguson 69 68 71

209 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 69 68 72, Matthew Nixon 69 69 71, Callum Shinkwin 68 71 70, Brandon Stone (Rsa) 71 67 71, Max Schmitt (Ger) 66 72 71, Jarin Todd (USA) 68 72 69, Marc Warren 68 71 70, Austin Connelly (Can) 69 71 69

210 Alex Haindl (Rsa) 69 69 72, Andre Nel (Rsa) 71 68 71, Neil Schietekat (Rsa) 72 67 71, Shaun Norris (Rsa) 70 67 73, Henric Sturehed (Swe) 68 71 71, Laurie Canter 72 68 70, Daniel Van Tonder (Rsa) 69 67 74, Deon Germishuys (a) (Rsa) 70 70 70, Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa) 65 73 72

211 Michael G Palmer (Rsa) 70 70 71, Jake Redman (Rsa) 68 72 71, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 67 73 71, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 70 70 71, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 70 67 74

212 Jacques Blaauw (Rsa) 70 69 73, Anton Haig (Rsa) 68 69 75, Yurav Premlall (a) (Rsa) 73 67 72, CJ Du Plessis (Rsa) 70 69 73, Wilco Nienaber (a) (Rsa) 69 69 74

213 Tom Murray 66 73 74, Keith Horne (Rsa) 71 68 74, Jack Harrison 68 71 74, Callum Mowat (Rsa) 71 67 75

214 Matthew Jordan 67 73 74, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 73 66 75, John Catlin (USA) 70 70 74, Alexander Knappe (Ger) 73 66 75

216 Duane Keun (Rsa) 71 67 78, David Gleeson (Aus) 75 65 76

218 JJ Senekal (Rsa) 70 70 78