Ken Borland

Donald had picked off four more birdies in another blemish-free round to move to 14-under-par after 12 holes, four ahead of Danny Willett and Ross Fisher.

That trio are five shots ahead of fourth-placed Marcel Siem and Thongchai Jaidee, so a fourth English win at Sun City after the triumphs of Lee Westwood in 2010 and 2011 and Nick Faldo in 1994 seems inevitable.

Donald’s astute iron play and general nous around a course that demands plenty of strategy and sound judgement saw him gain shots at the par-three fourth and seventh holes, and the two par-fives around the turn.

The former world number one is in a great position to celebrate his birthday on Sunday with a victory that marks his return to the highest echelons of the world game.

Fisher was not able to close the gap on Donald, despite playing solid golf as he went two-under through 12 holes. The tall 34-year-old picked up birdies on the second, fifth and ninth holes, but found trouble on the par-four third when his drive landed in thick rough and he had to chip out sideways on his way to a bogey.

Willett was on fire on the front nine, turning in 32 after birdies on the second, fifth, sixth and ninth holes, and he kept the pressure on Donald with further birdies on 10 and 11. A good par-save from the greenside bunker on the par-three 12^th kept him on track but a poor approach on the 13^th saw him eventually drop a shot.

Donald found the middle of the green on the 195-metre par-three fourth hole and sank a lovely 20-foot putt for his first birdie of the day and Alexander Levy, playing in the final three-ball with Donald and Fisher, also birdied the hole, but found himself in trouble on the third and sixth holes, the Frenchman dropping shots on each to slip back to five-under-par. A double-bogey on the par-three seventh and another dropped shot on the 10^th pushed him further back.

South African hope Charl Schwartzel suffered a disastrous double-bogey seven at the 14^th, a wayward tee shot being compounded by a visit to the love-grass and the bunker in front of the green, and is back on two-under for the tournament.

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The Englishman had played solidly, avoiding trouble through his first six holes, and he added one birdie to his tally when he found the middle of the green on the 195-metre par-three fourth hole and sank a lovely 20-foot putt.

Englishmen held the top three places on the third-round leaderboard, with Fisher gaining a stroke and moving to nine-under-par, while Danny Willett was in great touch, picking up three birdies in seven holes to move to eight-under-par.

Alexander Levy, playing in the final three-ball with Donald and Fisher, also birdied the par-three fourth, but found himself in trouble on the third and sixth holes, the Frenchman dropping shots on each to slip back to fourth place on five-under-par.

Three golfers were in a tie for fifth on four-under: South African hope Charl Schwartzel, an inspired Thongchai Jaidee and Germany’s Marcel Siem.

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With precision driving and his usual brilliant iron play, Donald went shopping for birdies and one of the best putters in the game collected nine of them in all. Not dropping a shot completed a dazzling round for the Englishman, his 63 lifting him to 10-under-par, two shots ahead of overnight leader Ross Fisher.

UPDATE: Nedbank Golf Challenge: Round 3 results

It’s hard to believe based on Friday’s evidence that all has not been right with Donald’s game recently; the first man to win both the European and PGA Tour moneylists in the same year (2011) has not won a tournament since November 2013 and Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley took the difficult decision to leave him off the triumphant Ryder Cup team this year.

“I think everything starts for me when I feel like I can drive it in the fairway and then give myself some opportunities, and then I’m not scrounging around trying to make pars and get up‑and‑down.

“So I gave myself a lot of good opportunities today, I didn’t put myself into too much trouble, and obviously when the putter is warm, it’s always one of my best weapons in the bag. So it was nice to roll in a few today,” Donald said after one of the best rounds ever seen at the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

Fisher actually regained the lead from his compatriot after a wonderful eagle-birdie combo on the 10^thand 11^th holes, but an offline tee-shot on the par-three 12^th drifted on to the mound next to the green and then bounced deep into the bushes, forcing him to drop and the resulting double-bogey checked his progress.

A wayward drive on 14 led to another bogey and Fisher probably did well to stop the bleeding and par the remaining four holes for a 70 and eight-under-par overall.

“It’s a tough golf course and I don’t feel like I played probably as solid as yesterday. I didn’t hit it as good off the tee. But I still felt like I played pretty solid. I hit one poor tee shot on 14 which cost me a six and had to take a penalty drop there. I got it to five‑under after 11, so I was hoping to kick on and reproduce 66 from yesterday or even a little bit better. But unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be, so I still shot under par, even with a couple of those loose shots coming in.

“Today it just seemed like every putt we over‑borrowed. I hit at least half-a-dozen, if not seven or eight putts, that I hit exactly where I wanted to hit it, and just unfortunately was over-reading the greens today,” Fisher said.

Crucial errors on the back nine were also the feature of the two other golfers in the final three-ball – Marcel Siem and George Coetzee.

Siem lost ground with a level-par 72 leaving him on four-under-par, the German suffering successive bogeys on the 14^th and 15^th holes thanks to wayward tee shots.

“It was a strange day, the total opposite from yesterday. It started really nicely, but all of us had problems on the golf course today. It was not like yesterday where we fed from each other. I felt like we were never going to finish, and on 16, we felt the whole tournament was over already. We played five hours, two minutes, just had a really long round and we didn’t play as well as we did yesterday.  Unfortunately the few chances we had on the back nine didn’t drop,” Siem lamented.

Coetzee plummeted even further down the leaderboard after a 74 left him on two-under, the South African dropping three shots on the back nine, including one on the infamous par-five 14^th, where he found the dreaded love-grass.

Another Englishman, Tommy Fleetwood, had the next best round of the day after Donald, a five-under-par 67 that included a rare eagle on the 14^th, as he swiftly recovered from being in the wars on the par-four 13^th.

That lifted Fleetwood to three-under-par overall and in the five-man group tied for sixth. Brendon Todd, Thongchai Jaidee, Charl Schwartzel and Tim Clark are the other golfers on 141.

Ahead of them are Siem, Englishman Danny Willett, who shot a 68 to jump to five-under, and Frenchman Alexander Levy, who posted a solid 70.

“It was a good 70, I’m happy because it’s not my best golf but I managed the golf course well. It’s always good to play 70 on this golf course, it’s very difficult and it’s hot,” Levy said.

Although the English dominance, with four golfers in the top six, will be galling for the home fans, it would be boorish for anybody to begrudge the brilliant Donald his success.

“Obviously nine birdies around this place is a great round and something I was very pleased with. It’s been a while since I played such a solid round,” Donald said.

The man may never have won a Major, but he can certainly produce championship golf as he showed on Friday.

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