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.

For Dawie van der Walt, it’s a case of hoping the golfers ahead of him on the leaderboard don’t slip up on Sunday morning when they complete their third rounds in the Joburg Open at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club.

Van der Walt is the joint clubhouse-leader with Canadian Andrew Parr after his brilliant five-under-par 67 lifted him to 12-under-par overall. Late showers then brought an early end to a day which began with more than half of the field finishing their second rounds and ended with leaders Branden Grace and Richard Finch, tied on 15-under, and third-placed George Coetzee (-14) yet to complete their third rounds.

But Van der Walt, citing his preference for attacking from behind, said he would be happy if that trio remain ahead of him going into the final round.

“I don’t want to be in the last group with all the people watching … maybe third from last will be great! I’ll be firing at the pins regardless. My golf seems to get better if I have to come from behind. I like to be aggressive, maybe I’m too aggressive,” Van der Walt said.

Although the 28-year-old lacks a Sunshine Tour win on his resume’, he has shown his ability to come from behind before, most notably when he shot a nine-under-par 63 to force a playoff in the BMG Classic at Glendower Golf Club last October. The Paarl-based golfer ultimately lost to James Kamte, but it remains the best result of his career.

The sturdy Van der Walt expects the final round to be as tough a challenge as the third round on the East Course, especially in terms of the pin-placements.

“I play here a lot and I don’t know how they can make the course much tougher, they had all the hard flags out there today.

“The flag at 10 was in a place I’ve never seen before, on a slope. You couldn’t miss anywhere left and anywhere past the pin left you with a scary putt. The fourth and 15th holes are also in the hardest places.

“It’s hard to hit it close, you take a big chance if you try. If you short-side yourself, it’s very difficult to make par,” Van der Walt said.