He posted a solid three-under-par 69 to stretch that advantage to five strokes.

Venter will head into the final round on 12-under-par for the tournament, having shot a brilliant 63 in the first round.

There was a blustery wind in Pretoria on Thursday, just the sort of conditions in which a golfer could blow a lead on the hard and fast greens of Wingate Park, and Venter began his round cautiously, being level-par, with a birdie and a bogey, through his first eight holes.

But he was then able to tear around the turn with three birdies in the next four holes. Six straight pars coming in on the front nine completed a round which could only be considered a success.

“The wind picked up a lot today so my first few holes were not too bad. It was definitely trickier today to figure out which way it was blowing. Because the course is tree-lined, it swirls around a bit,” Venter said.

“There were quite difficult decisions to make over which irons to play. But we predicted the wind would pick up and the plan was to get my score as low as possible to build a bit of a cushion. Thankfully I kept my head in the game and managed to get a decent score. I can’t control what the other golfers do, but I am in a really good position,” Venter said.

On a hard day to shoot a really low score, Estiaan Conradie (69) and Jean Hugo (68) did really well to position themselves as Venter’s closest challengers, on seven-under-par.

Luke Brown produced the round of the day, a 66 that included seven birdies, to join Ruan Korb (70) on six-under for the tournament.

Venter won the Zimbabwe Open in May for his maiden Sunshine Tour title and will be able to learn from that experience in Friday’s final round.

“The big thing about winning is trying to get into those positions more and more, trying to get used to the atmosphere and nerves you face on the final day,” the Silver Lakes golfer said.

“I’ve been in quite a few situations like that in the last few years, although I wouldn’t say I’m experienced. But I’ve been in the situation before and I know how to deal with the nerves and the adrenaline. I can’t get ahead of myself, I have to stay patient and stick to my guns,” Venter said.

SCORES

132 - Albert Venter 63 69

137 - Estiaan Conradie 68 69, Jean Hugo 69 68

138 - Ruan Korb 68 70, Luke Brown 72 66

139 - Richard Joubert 67 72, Dayne Moore 69 70

140 - Dylan Naidoo 70 70, Heinrich Bruiners 69 71, Martin Rohwer 67 73, Erhard Lambrechts 69 71

141 - Keagan Thomas 68 73, Rourke van der Spuy 73 68, Lyle Rowe 73 68

142 - Matthew Spacey 73 69, Jared Harvey 73 69, Kyle Barker 72 70, JJ Senekal 69 73, Michael Palmer 73 69, Luca Filippi 72 70

143 - Siyanda Mwandla 75 68, Clayton Mansfield 73 70, Wallie Coetsee 72 71, Daniel van Tonder 72 71, Jacques Blaauw 75 68, Dylan Mostert 75 68, Hennie Otto 74 69, Bradley Bawden 75 68, Martin Vorster 71 72, Malcolm Mitchell 70 73, Yurav Premlall 73 70, Louis Albertse 72 71, Ruan de Smidt 71 72, Paul Boshoff 70 73

144 - Pieter Moolman 75 69, Michael Kok 72 72, Adam Breen 72 72, Herman Loubser 73 71, Wynand Dingle 68 76, Hennie O'Kennedy 67 77, Jayden Schaper 70 74, Madalitso Muthiya 70 74

Missed the cut:-

145 - Nikhil Rama 73 72, Clancy Waugh 72 73, Lindani Ndwandwe 73 72, Ryan Van Velzen 71 74, Combrinck Smit 75 70

146 - Callum Mowat 74 72, Makhetha Mazibuko 73 73, Toto Thimba Jnr 74 72, Allister de Kock 75 71, Jaco Prinsloo 74 72, Jean-Paul Strydom 71 75, Sean Bradley 70 76

147 - Tumelo Molloyi 70 77, Jaco Van Zyl 71 76, CJ du Plessis 73 74, Rhys West 70 77, Anthony Michael 78 69, Divan van den Heever 76 71, Quintin Wilsnach 75 72, Thabang Simon 72 75, Jake Redman 73 74, Keenan Davidse 72 75, Harry Konig 77 70

148 - Stefan Wears-Taylor 74 74, Andre De Decker 75 73, Peter Karmis 74 74, Doug McGuigan 76 72, Jordan Duminy 74 74, Kyle McClatchie 72 76, Sean Cronje 72 76, Danie Van Niekerk 74 74, Stephen Ferreira 78 70, Keelan van Wyk 74 74, Vaughn van Deventer 79 69

149 - Matias Calderon 76 73, MJ Viljoen 78 71, Ockie Strydom 75 74, Yubin Jung 74 75, Jacquin Hess 72 77, Merrick Bremner 73 76, Clinton Grobler 74 75

150 - Teaghan Gauche 74 76, Maverick Faber 77 73, Dean O'Riley 75 75, Ryan Cairns 75 75, James Hart du Preez 74 76, Jason Smith 78 72, James Pennington 74 76

151 - Adriel Poonan 78 73, Gerard du Plooy 78 73, Ivan Verster 74 77, Casey Jarvis 77 74, Aneurin Gounden 73 78

152 - Karabo Mokoena 78 74, Dwayne Basson 78 74, Chris Cannon 75 77, Joshua Seale 76 76, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 77 75, Lwazi Gqira 75 77

153 - Hayden Griffiths 76 77, Christiaan Burke 80 73, Trevor Fisher Jnr 77 76, Therion Nel 74 79, Riekus Nortje 74 79, Thanda Mavundla 76 77, Chris Swanepoel 76 77

154 - Gerrit Foster 76 78

155 - Leon Vorster 76 79

156 - Steven Le Roux 80 76, Jacques P de Villiers 76 80

157 - Lincon Denzy Cele 80 77, Kevin Rhoderick 76 81, Andre Van Dyk 80 77

158 - Keelan Africa 79 79

WDN - Brooklin Bailey 80 WDN, Fredrik From 77 WDN, Joe Long 74 WDN, Alex Haindl 78 WDN