Ken Borland

Donald retained the lead after a solid round of three-under-par 69 lifted him to 13-under-par heading into the final round with a one-stroke lead over Willett. Fisher is a further two shots back on 10-under-par after a two-under 70, a solid round with a cold putter.

Donald was the star of the second round with his nine-under-par 63, but Saturday belonged to Willett, the 27-year-old shooting a superb seven-under-par 65 to vault into contention, after starting the day five strokes behind the leader.

The other member of the final three-ball, Alexander Levy, had an awful day, a four-over-par 76 seeing him drop down the leaderboard to two-under-par, 11 strokes off the pace.

Victory for Willett would be a tremendous coup for a former amateur world number one who is looking to elevate his rapidly-growing standing and hunting his second European Tour title after winning the BMW International Open in Cologne, Germany, in 2012.

“I’m heading in the right direction, so that’s great. All three of us are in good positions to win and we’re obviously playing good golf. I’ll bring exactly the same approach to the final round; some of the greats win at best 10 tournaments in their career and this is only my sixth year on tour, hopefully I’ll have another 20 years out here, so there’s no rush,” Willett said after his low round of the day.

Fisher birdied the second hole but dropped a shot at the third before picking up further shots at the fifth and ninth holes. But he came home in level-par 36 after a bogey on the 16^th and a birdie on the last and was left mulling over missed opportunities.

“It was another tough day. I felt like I probably played better than my score suggested, two‑under again. It was a similar story to yesterday, I felt like I hit it pretty good, gave myself a lot of chances and just couldn’t buy a putt.

“I felt like I’ve hit some good shots in there and haven’t got anything from it. So from two days, to not hole a putt to finally hole one on 18, hopefully that gives me some confidence and momentum going into tomorrow,” Fisher, the first-round leader, said.

From a South African perspective, Louis Oosthuizen’s 69 was one of the low rounds of the day, lifting him into a tie for fifth on four-under-par, one shot behind Marcel Siem.

But it was a disastrous day for Charl Schwartzel, who started the round seven shots back but birdied the first two holes to raise hopes of a charge by a local man. But he immediately bogeyed the par-four third and went out in level-par 36. An eagle-three on the 10^th, sinking a wonderful lengthy putt, raised hopes again, but Schwartzel, who is not comfortable with his swing at the moment, imploded thereafter with a double-bogey on the notorious 14^th hole and bogeys on 11, 13, 16 and 18, ending the day on level-par.

While Schwartzel’s frustration eventually boiled over, Donald was the picture of calm and composure and it is he who is probably the favourite to claim the $1.25 million first prize on Sunday.

“Around this course, shooting 69, that’s what the game plan was, to keep my nose ahead. I was very calm and collected out there and I’m as pleased with my game as I’ve been for a long while.

“I putted well, but not as well as yesterday, but the course was a little tougher today with the pin positions and it was hard to be aggressive. But I was very consistent and solid, just a couple of loose shots on the back nine. Tomorrow I’ll go out and trust my game, just keep my head down. Mentally, I think I’m stronger, trying to be positive out there and turn that to good golf,” Donald said.

The man who turns 37 on Sunday was typically unruffled in going to four-under for the day through 10 holes, but the 13^th was a stumbling block as he dropped his first shot in 42 holes. A huge roar on his backswing from the 14^th hole disrupted his drive, which landed in the fairway bunker. He then thinned his shot out of the sand, clipping some trees and finishing well short of the green and still impeded by branches. Donald did well to get on the green and two-putt for bogey from there.

He pushed his second putt badly on the par-four 17^th, leading to a three-putt bogey, but the lead was restored on 18 as he hit a wonderful eight-iron approach shot from the rough to set up a closing birdie.

The quality of Willett’s iron play led to four relatively easy birdies on the front nine – his eagle putt on nine shaved the hole – but the back nine also brought him some challenges, despite the best of starts with birdies on the 10^th and 11^th holes.

But the son of a preacher man made two excellent par saves: on the par-three 12^th he got up-and-down after short-siding himself in the greenside bunker, and on 15, which he described as the most important hole of his round, Willett made a 12-foot par putt after his drive sailed into the long grass and scrub behind the nasty left-hand fairway bunker.

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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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