Schwartzel moves level at top

Charl Schwartzel made a blistering start to his third round at the Joburg Open today, picking up eight shots through 13 holes to move joint top alongside overnight leader David Drysdale.

The diminutive South African made six birdies on his opening nine holes at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club to make the turn in just 30 strokes, and began the back nine in similar fashion by picking up a shot on the 10th.

A double-bogey on the par-four 11 saw him drop back, but he produced a sublime seven iron on the next hole – the 205-yard 12th – which dropped 10 centimetres from the cup and rolled in for a hole-in-one. He followed up with another birdie as he moved to the summit alongside the Scotsman, who had yet to tee-off.

Most of the chasing pack, including Oliver Bekker and Michael Hoey – both on 10 under for the championship – were yet to begin, while Andrew McLardy, nine under overnight, parred his first hole and Danny Willet made a bogey to drop to eight under overall.

Another player to make his move on day three of the co-sanctioned European and Sunshine Tour event was Louis Oosthuizen, who managed three birdies from his opening six holes to move to eight under.

The best clubhouse scores of the day were 69s from Englishman Iain Pyman and South Africa’s Michiel Bothma – scores which helped both players move to four under.