Ken Borland

With Louis Oosthuizen shooting his best ever round at Leopard Creek and Charl Schwartzel feeling physically back to something approaching his best, the stage is set for a classic showdown between the two great friends and Major champions as they go into the final round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship tied for the lead.

Sunday’s closing round will take the tournament back a decade and more as Schwartzel and Oosthuizen re-enact a rivalry that was a dominant feature of the tournament back then. Schwartzel had the better of the exchanges, winning the title a record four times, in 2012, 2013 and 2015, in addition to his 2004 triumph at Houghton Golf Club.

Oosthuizen has never won the Alfred Dunhill Championship, finishing runner-up in 2005 and 2014. The famous prowling leopard trophy is one he dearly wants to raise, and he put himself into prime position with a tremendous, nine-under-par, course record equalling 63 on Saturday to go to 15-under-par after three rounds.

“That was good,” Oosthuizen grinned after his faultless round with seven birdies and an eagle on the par-four, 284m sixth when he drove the green. “I played really solid and did not make a lot of mistakes, and then rolled it nicely on the greens.

“But it was hot! I was close to getting a beer from someone on the side of the course! I just tried to walk in the shade as much as I could, because it was brutal out there. And this is such a tough course, there are certain holes you need to take on and you have to play good shots. This course can really bite you and I’ve been on the bad side of it.

“But this is one tournament I really want on my CV, I’ve come close to winning before and I’ve messed it up before too. So tomorrow I’m just going to stay calm and do the same thing as today,” Oosthuizen said.

Schwartzel has endured an injury-plagued year and is just delighted that the physios have managed to patch him back together so well that he feels like his old self again. That old self has been the dominant figure at Leopard Creek through the years, and the 39-year-old turned back the clock on Saturday as he produced a stellar back nine featuring four birdies and an eagle on the par-five 15^th, posting a 65 that saw him reach 15-under shortly after Oosthuizen.

“I loved it, that was really nice. It’s so much fun to be healthy again after having constant niggles for the whole year. You don’t realise how much an injury hampers you because you are always working around it. It was just free-flowing again and I can hit all my shots again. The clubface is stable and I’m striking the ball so well. It makes me really happy.

“This heat is comfortable for me, it’s how I know Leopard Creek. The first two days it felt like a new course I was learning how to play, with the ball not going so far in the cool weather, making it very difficult to go for the par-fives in two.

“Louis had a great round and we’ve been friends for a long time. We’ve come a long way together and we will both just try our best in the final round and see what the outcome is. The one who makes the least mistakes will win,” Schwartzel said.

Heavy prices were paid lower down the leaderboard for errant tee-shots or impure iron shots, and for poor course-management, which combined to give Oosthuizen and Schwartzel a five-shot lead.

Two quality golfers, well-versed in winning in South Africa, are tied in third place on 10-under-par: Christiaan Bezuidenhout dropped a couple of shots on the front nine, but reeled off four birdies in a row after the turn to post a 68; Andy Sullivan had a double-bogey on the par-three seventh and dropped another shot on 17, but finished superbly with an eagle at the last to sign for a 69.

Overnight leader Casey Jarvis notched four birdies but made too many mistakes, four bogeys and a double-drop on the par-five 15^th took him down the leaderboard with a 74 to finish on eight-under-par.

Marco Penge got himself to 12-under-par after 13 holes, but three bogeys in his next four holes saw him slip back to nine-under and in a tie for fifth with Ashun Wu (69).

Dwaine Pretorius produced the best ever figures by a South African in T20 Internationals as the Proteas levelled the series against Pakistan with a six-wicket triumph in the second match in Lahore on Saturday.

Medium-pacer Pretorius wrecked the Pakistan innings, especially in the closing stages, as he claimed fabulous figures of five for 17 to restrict the home side to 144 for seven.

The Proteas then chased down that target with 22 balls to spare, the innings being built around the partnership of 77 for the third wicket between Reeza Hendricks and Pite van Biljon, who both scored 42.

Pretorius opened the bowing with the left-arm spinner Jon-Jon Smuts and struck with the second ball he bowled, trapping Babar Azam, the Pakistan captain and kingpin, lbw for 5 as he nipped the ball back into the right-hander.

Mohammad Rizwan was once again the mainstay of the Pakistan batting, but the superb spin bowling of Tabraiz Shamsi (4-0-16-1) and Smuts (4-0-20-0) kept the home side quite in the middle overs.

The pressure told as Pretorius returned in the 14^th over to dismiss Iftikhar Ahmed (20) and end the most threatening partnership of the Pakistan innings – 45 in 7.2 overs – David Miller taking an excellent steepling catch as the ball descended out of the foggy skies.

The all-rounder then claimed the big scalp of Rizwan in his next over, the in-form wicketkeeper mishitting a slower ball to be caught by long-off for 51 off 41 balls.

Pretorius then claimed the wickets of Khushdil Shah (15) and Mohammad Nawaz for a duck in the penultimate over, with only the big hitting of Faheem Ashraf (30 not out off 12 balls) getting the hosts to a vaguely competitive total.

Pretorius claimed the fifth five-wicket haul for South Africa in T20 Internationals and his figures improved on the previous best performance of five for 19 by Ryan McLaren against the West Indies at North Sound in 2010. It was also the best ever display against Pakistan.

After their heroics in the field, South Africa did not take the gentle approach to chasing down their moderate target, although left-arm quick Shaheen Shah Afridi rocked them by removing Janneman Malan (4) and Smuts (7) in his first two overs.

But Hendricks and Van Biljon showed their experience by showing selective aggression. What was most impressive though was the intent they showed against the spinners.

Especially leg-spinner Usman Qadir, who dominated in the first T20 but was shaken from his cradle immediately on Saturday, as both batsmen hit him for sixes in his first over.

Qadir returned to dismiss Hendricks in the 12^th over, but the opener’s 42 off 30 balls had already set South Africa well on the way to victory.

Even with Van Biljon falling in the next over to spinner Nawaz for 42 off 32 deliveries, the experienced pairing of Miller (25* off 19) and captain Heinrich Klaasen (17* off 9) guided the Proteas home.

The deciding third match of the series will take place on Sunday in Lahore as well.