Ferreira, who began the penultimate day leading by two points in the modified Stableford event, produced another solid round of golf with a pair of birdies on each nine, taking him to eight points for the day, but then he dropped shots, and points, with bogeys on the last two holes. That left the Zimbabwe resident who plays under the Portuguese flag with six points for his round, taking him to a total of 30 points, still renting out that two-point lead.

Last week’s winner of the Fortress Invitational at Ebotse Links, Pieter Moolman, enjoyed a fantastic day with five birdies and an eagle on the par-five fifth giving him 13 points and vaulting him into second place on 28.

Jaco Prinsloo, who is second on the Luno Order of Merit, had an even better day with five birdies and an eagle, and no dropped shots, giving him 15 points for a total of 26 heading into the final round. Jbe’ Kruger, second overnight, had a tough front nine, scoring minus-three, but bounced back after the turn with three birdies to finish with 24 points in total.

The 30-year-old Ferreira hails from Borrowdale Brook Golf Club in Harare and has 10 top-10 finishes from 136 Sunshine Tour events. With more than R1.6 million in prizemoney from those performances, Ferreira will be nearing the R2 million mark if he can hold off what are bound to be stiff challenges from Moolman, Prinsloo and Kruger, and perhaps even youngsters Jayden Schaper and Luca Filippi, who are both on 23 points.

30 - Stephen Ferreira 11 13 6

28 - Pieter Moolman 6 9 13

26 - Jaco Prinsloo 6 5 15

24 - Jbe' Kruger 9 13 2

23 - Jayden Schaper 7 8 8, Luca Filippi 7 10 6

21 - MJ Viljoen 9 7 5, Anthony Michael 5 12 4

20 - Peter Karmis 6 4 10, JJ Senekal 6 5 9

19 - Lyle Rowe 6 4 9, Jaco Van Zyl 10 4 5

18 - Dylan Naidoo 2 11 5

17 - Stefan Wears-Taylor 8 0 9

16 - Brooklin Bailey 15 -9 10, Jaco Ahlers 2 9 5, Martin Vorster 2 6 8, Ockie Strydom 10 -2 8

15 - Keith Horne 4 6 5, Rourke van der Spuy 4 10 1

14 - Keagan Thomas -1 4 11, Madalitso Muthiya 0 4 10, Hennie O'Kennedy 0 8 6

13 - Joe Long 7 -3 9, Steve Surry 6 2 5

12 - Jared Harvey 5 2 5, Neil Schietekat 3 7 2, Louis Albertse 8 2 2, Wynand Dingle 7 1 4

11 - Malcolm Mitchell -1 2 10

10 - Sean Bradley 0 1 9, Hennie Otto -3 5 8, Rupert Kaminski -1 3 8

9 - Dean O'Riley 0 2 7, Clinton Grobler -3 6 6, Keenan Davidse 4 -1 6, Heinrich Bruiners -5 9 5, Doug McGuigan 7 0 2, Rhys West 5 5 -1, Dan Erickson 3 7 -1, Christiaan Basson 6 5 -2, Jean Hugo 4 8 -3

8 - Riekus Nortje -5 5 8, Herman Loubser 1 0 7

7 - Luke Jerling -1 3 5, Christiaan Burke 4 0 3, Estiaan Conradie 1 6 0

6 - Ruan Conradie -6 6 6, Ruan Korb -5 7 4, Therion Nel -1 6 1, Michael Kok 2 7 -3

5 - Jake Redman 1 6 -2

4 - Gerard du Plooy -2 3 3, Combrinck Smit 4 0 0

3 - Martin Rohwer 2 0 1

2 - Ryan Van Velzen 9 2 -9

1 - Richard Joubert 0 3 -2

0 - Adam Breen -2 2 0

-3 - Kyle Barker -5 5 -3

-8 - Jean-Paul Strydom -2 2 -8

Missed the cut:-

-1 - Matthew Spacey 4 -5, Albert Venter -5 4

-2 - Jacques P de Villiers -4 2, Erhard Lambrechts -1 -1

-3 - Bradley Bawden -9 6

-4 - Thabang Simon -1 -3, Tristin Galant 3 -7, Merrick Bremner 1 -5, Dylan Mostert -3 -1

-5 - Danie Van Niekerk -2 -3, Hayden Griffiths 2 -7

-6 - Makhetha Mazibuko -2 -4, Kyle McClatchie 2 -8

-7 - Ricky Hendler -9 2

-8 - Casey Jarvis 0 -8

-9 - Dwayne Basson -12 3

-11 - Jacques Blaauw -5 -6

-12 - Ryan Tipping -1 -11

-14 - Luke Brown -9 -5

-15 - Andre De Decker -9 -6