Louis Oosthuizen once again ate something dodgy at the Sun City beach party but had recovered sufficiently by Saturday to position himself nicely just one stroke behind leader Martin Kaymer after the third round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge at the Gary Player Country Club.

Kaymer shot a solid two-under-par 70 on Saturday to move to five-under overall, but Oosthuizen closed in on the former world number one with a three-under 69, the joint best round of the day.

Fellow South African Charl Schwartzel is one stroke back after a 70, while two-time defending champion Lee Westwood and rising American star Bill Haas are tied for fourth on two-under-par.

When Oosthuizen made his NGC debut in 2010, he suffered a reaction to eating seafood at the famous beach party at the Valley of the Waves and finished last.

“Two years ago, the whole tournament felt like a blur, I just felt terrible,” Oosthuizen said.

Unbelievably, the South African once again picked up a stomach bug at this year’s beach party and did well to struggle his way to an even-par 72 in the second round.

“Yesterday I wasn’t feeling good at all. Today I still had a bit of cramps and pain in my stomach area, but at least I was able to eat a bit, to get something in me,” Oosthuisen said on Saturday after his round.

The 30-year-old from Mossel Bay produced a skilful display of golf on Saturday, thriving in the tough conditions as sunny skies gave way to cloud and occasional light rain.

“The weather was like on the coast, the wind was all over the place and the ball just didn’t go as far. The rain didn’t do much to make the greens easier either,” Oosthuizen said.

Kaymer, however, is in pole position after recovering from a bogey on the par-four third hole to collect three birdies and not drop another shot.

The German said it had taken him a while to lock down his distance control after a dramatic overnight change in weather.

“It was a bit more difficult than yesterday, especially the first few holes because usually the ball goes a bit further in the heat,” Kaymer said.

“Usually the ball goes 10% further, but it took a while to work out whether it was 10% less today or 5% less. And the wind was swirling around on a few holes too.”

Overnight leader Paul Lawrie’s challenge waned as he struggled to a 75 on Saturday to trail Kaymer by four shots, four bogeys in his first eight holes serving to derail his round.

Schwartzel played some inspired golf, dropping just one shot after a wayward drive on the testing par-four eighth hole as home fans contemplated a first South African triumph in the exhibition event since 2007.

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Branden Grace knew there would always be chances for bogeys on Saturday, but he put his mistakes behind him and held on to a share of the lead after the third round of the Volvo Golf Champions at the Fancourt Links on Saturday.

On a day when only 10 of the 35-man field were under-par and there were two quadruple-bogeys and five triple-bogeys, Grace’s two-over-par 75 was actually a solid round and it left him on 10-under overall, tied with Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts for the lead.

Grace started badly with two bogeys on the first three holes and he also made two double-bogeys on the back nine, on the par-four 12th and par-three 17th holes. But he also picked up four birdies and he was satisfied with his efforts on a rainy, blustery day in the Southern Cape.

“I always knew there’d be mistakes on the card, but I still played really well because the conditions were really tough. I handled it well and made some good saves to limit the damage,” Grace said after his round.

“I actually thought it was very good golf on the first five holes, I just missed one shot, when I mis-hit an eight-iron. Otherwise, I striped my drive on the first and unluckily it bounced into the pot bunker.

“The same again on 12, it was a great drive but it just had a big bounce right on one of the slopes and it ended up in a pot bunker. It makes the hole very long because you can’t really hit the ball a long way then, you have to go sideways and it leaves you with a very long club in.

“On 17, I just went for it a little bit more than I should have, I hit it a bit too hard and I was over the back of the green, which you don’t want to play with,” Grace explained.

But the 23-year-old didn’t allow the mishap to get him down and he promptly birdied the last hole to ensure he will go into the final round with a fabulous chance of pulling off back-to-back victories after his breakthrough triumph in last weekend’s Joburg Open.

“I’m still happy, I’m still in there. I’ll take two-over today and I’ll just stick to my own game tomorrow,” Grace said.

Canada’s Andrew Parr has no previous case history of excelling on the European Tour, so his third round of eight-under-par 64 on Saturday that catapulted him into the clubhouse lead of the Joburg Open was a bolt from the blue.

However the final round proceeds, the 28-year-old is almost guaranteed to earn the biggest paycheque of his career after his inspired round that was highlighted by a run of six birdies in eight holes around the turn.

Parr has played most of his golf in Canada, but has appeared sporadically on the Nationwide Tour in the United States. Playing in the Joburg Open is the University of Texas graduate’s first foray into the European Tour.

The 6’4” Parr averages in the region of 300 metres off the tee so he is certainly in the big-hitter’s club. Whether he makes it into the winner’s circle is another story, but his confidence will be sky-high after not making a bogey in 31 holes.

Parr completed his second round in the morning and just scraped into the rest of the tournament by birdieing the 18th hole on the West Course. That left him in a tie for 48th place … but an incredible third round has put him right in contention on 12-under-par alongside Dawie van der Walt, a friend of his since they have both been based in Texas.

Only three men are in front of him – George Coetzee, on -14, and co-leaders Richard Finch and Branden Grace on 15-under.