South Africa’s Wilco Nienaber and Louis Albertse head into Sunday’s final round of the SDC Championship at Zebula Country Club in a tie for the lead on 19 under par and sharing a philosophy to keep the game as simple as possible.

On a day of low scoring in the bushveld, Nienaber signed for a 64 and Albertse a 65 to see them finish one shot clear of Welshman Rhys Enoch, who posted a third round of 66.

Earlier in the day Lyle Rowe surged up the leaderboard with a 63 and a tournament total of 13 under par, and Nikhil Rama played the back nine in 29 on his way to a 65 and a total of 11 under par.

Both Nienaber and Albertse responded to that early pressure.

Nienaber started with a birdie and eagle on his first two holes. “I was so excited after my first two holes that I hit a seven iron into the bush on the third and made bogey there. But when you make a birdie on the first hole it just feels nice. It’s nice to start like that and you feel like you’ve just got to keep going. I just wanted to be at the top at the end of the day and wasn’t too bothered about what anybody else was doing,” he said.

It was the second 64 of his week so far. “It felt pretty easy out there again. I wasn’t too happy about the two bogeys I made, but the rest was good. I hit it on average a little closer to the flags than the previous two days and putted well. I’m hitting it well enough to make birdies out there. I just need to keep the bogeys off the card. It’s been a while since I’ve been in this position but I know how it will feel and what I need to do in the final round. I’m just trying to keep to the basics – one plus one equals two kind of thing. When you overthink this game that’s when it becomes really complicated.”

Albertse has been taking a similar approach.

“I told myself there will be pressure early in the round and I just stuck to my gameplan. Nick Dunlap said recently that pressure is a privilege. I’m very pleased with my performance and I have a good season on the go. I’m just trying to make the game as easy as possible and play the game I know I can play. It’s never easy to win no matter where you are and what you’re doing. But I’m going to just enjoy the final day and do my best.”

SCORES:

197 - Wilco Nienaber 64 69 64, Louis Albertse 67 65 65

198 - Rhys Enoch 66 66 66

201 - George Bloor 69 67 65, Chris Paisley 65 70 66, Angel Ayora 65 69 67, Jbe' Kruger 67 67 67, Gerhard Pepler 70 64 67, Alexander Levy 64 68 69

202 - Deon Germishuys 67 69 66, Martin Rohwer 69 67 66, Jamie Rutherford 71 65 66

203 - Lyle Rowe 68 72 63, Curtis Knipes 68 66 69

204 - Stuart Krog 71 69 64, Sean Bradley 71 68 65, Robin Sciot-Siegrist 70 67 67, Gary Hurley 68 68 68, Benjamin Follett-Smith 66 69 69, Dylan Naidoo 71 64 69, Ryan Van Velzen 69 66 69

205 - Nikhil Rama 70 70 65, Keenan Davidse 74 66 65, Daniel Young 69 67 69, Malcolm Mitchell 65 69 71

206 - Craig Howie 73 67 66, Aron Zemmer 70 70 66, Martin Vorster 68 71 67, John Parry 69 69 68, Kyle Barker 66 72 68, Neil Schietekat 69 69 68, Niklas Regner 69 68 69, Ross Mcgowan 70 67 69, Pieter Moolman 68 69 69

207 - Stefan Wears-Taylor 72 68 67, Anthony Michael 70 70 67, Christoffer Bring 70 70 67, Dylan Mostert 73 66 68, Trevor Fisher Jnr 69 70 68, Herman Loubser 72 67 68, Joel Moscatel 72 66 69, Matthew Spacey 66 71 70, Keith Horne 70 66 71, Philipp Katich 68 67 72

208 - Ben Schmidt 72 68 68, Luke Jerling 69 71 68, Jonathan Broomhead 70 69 69, Wynand Dingle 70 69 69, David Langley 68 71 69, Lee Slattery 68 71 69, Jean Hugo 67 70 71

209 - Rupert Kaminski 68 72 69, Hayden Hopewell 70 68 71, Daniel van Tonder 74 64 71, Willie Olivier 70 68 71

210 - Tom Shadbolt 65 74 71, Gregorio De Leo 69 70 71, Oliver Farr 72 67 71, Robin Roussel 69 69 72, Quim Vidal 71 65 74, Joshua Berry 70 66 74

211 - CJ du Plessis 71 69 71

212 - Danie Van Niekerk 71 69 72, Sam Hutsby 71 68 73, Lars van Meijel 65 73 74, Hamish Brown 68 70 74

213 - Makhetha Mazibuko 69 71 73

214 - Justin Walters 71 69 74

215 - Martin Couvra 71 69 75

Missed the cut:-

141 - Jack McDonald 73 68, Luca Filippi 71 70, Oliver Bekker 74 67, Javier Sainz 73 68, Dan Erickson 71 70, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen 70 71, Christiaan Basson 72 69, Estiaan Conradie 74 67, Bjorn Akesson 71 70, Hennie Otto 68 73, Hennie O'Kennedy 70 71, MJ Viljoen 72 69, Jason Roets 70 71

142 - Pierre Pineau 71 71, Robin Williams 74 68, Peter Karmis 73 69, JC Ritchie 73 69, James Allan 72 70, Robson Chinhoi 71 71, Yurav Premlall 70 72, George Mason 70 72, Rourke van der Spuy 70 72, Anton Karlsson 70 72, Jake Redman 73 69, Callum Mowat 73 69

143 - Albert Venter 73 70, Alfie Plant 71 72, Bryce Easton 72 71, Tristen Strydom 73 70, Jovan Rebula 71 72, Gary Boyd 73 70, LB Boshoff 69 74, Ashley Chesters 73 70, Keelan van Wyk 71 72, Ruan Conradie 72 71, Sean Cronje 74 69, Jordan Gumberg 73 70, Thomas Aiken 73 70, Heinrich Bruiners 70 73, Keagan Thomas 69 74, Ronan Mullarney 71 72

144 - JJ Senekal 72 72, Lucas Vacarisas 70 74, Clement Guichard 75 69, Julien Sale 72 72, Bradley Bawden 74 70, Gregory Bourdy 72 72, Toto Thimba Jnr 74 70, DK Kim 70 74, Maxence Giboudot 69 75, Martin Simonsen 73 71, Ricardo Santos 71 73, Christofer Blomstrand 71 73, Jacques P de Villiers 74 70, Dermot Mcelroy 70 74, Ronan Kleu 72 72, Lars Keunen 69 75

145 - Justin Harding 74 71, Toby Tree 74 71, Haraldur Magnus 72 73, Romain Wattel 73 72, Andoni Etchenique 73 72, Rhys Thompson 72 73, Ruan Korb 69 76, Mikael Lindberg 73 72, Borja Virto 73 72, Victor Pastor 69 76

146 - Michael Stewart 75 71, Jaco Van Zyl 74 72, Jacques Blaauw 74 72, Gary Stal 71 75, Adam Breen 70 76

147 - Sentanio Minnie 70 77, Rhys West 72 75, Clement Berardo 78 69, Tomas Gouveia 73 74, Kiet van der Weele 73 74

148 - Pietro Bovari 75 73, Alejandro Canizares 75 73

152 - Combrinck Smit 77 75, Wade Jacobs 74 78, Jeremy Freiburghaus 75 77, Mateusz Gradecki 76 76, James Kamte 78 74

153 - Jastice Mashego 74 79

157 - Merrick Bremner 79 78

162 - Christiaan Burke 78 84