Port Edward - After two rounds of the Origins of Golf tournament at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club, Louis de Jager has opened up a lead over the rest of the field to make his father-in-law and Comrades Marathon legend Nick Bester proud.
De Jager followed up his opening 63 with a 68 on Thursday to climb to nine-under-par and five strokes clear of his nearest challengers, Jaco Ahlers and Stuart Smith. Ahlers took advantage of the calm morning conditions to shoot a solid 65.
But De Jager is determined to capitalise on the biggest lead of his career in Friday's final round.
"I haven't had this kind of lead since my amateur days.
"I don't even know if I've ever had this kind of lead to be honest. It's new territory for me and I'm looking forward to it," he said.
"I'm feeling very good. I've got a few things I'm concentrating on and that keeps my mind off all the things that usually tense me up."
De Jager had to battle through the afternoon wind on Thursday and did so impressively, with a back nine of level par.
"It was tough out there and I'm glad to still be on top of the leaderboard.
"I've been putting really well and that's saved me a couple of times.
"For the first few holes the wind wasn't that tough so I could be quite aggressive.
"And on the back nine I just had a strategy to leave myself with the easiest next shot.
"Level par on the back in these conditions is pretty good."
Scores (RSA unless otherwise specified):
131 - Louis de Jager 63 68
136 - Jaco Ahlers 71 65, Stuart Smith (BOT) 67 69
138 - Danie van Tonder 72 66, Shaun Norris 69 69
139 - Colin Nel 73 66, Keith Horne 70 69, Jared Harvey 67 72, CJ du Plessis 72 67, Tyrone Mordt 72 67, Heinrich Bruiners 70 69
140 - Wallie Coetsee 74 66, Titch Moore 72 68, Pieter Moolman 72 68, Jean Hugo 71 69
141 - Neil Schietekat 69 72, Haydn Porteous 73 68, Grant Muller 75 66, Daniel Greene 75 66, Bryce Bibby 70 71,Warren Abery 72 69, James Kamte 68 73, Christiaan Basson 71 70
142 - Trevor Fisher Jnr 73 69, Jeff Inglis (ENG) 74 68, PH McIntyre 68 74, Matthew Carvell 71 71
143 - Tyrone Ryan 71 72, Andrew Curlewis 78 65, Jacques Blaauw 73 70, Keenan Davidse 70 73
144 - Gideon Pienaar 75 69, Allan Versfeld 72 72, Michael Hollick 73 71, Lyle Rowe 75 69, Shaun Smith 73 71,Anthony Michael 76 68, Oliver Bekker 73 71, Ulrich van den Berg 74 70
145 - Bryce Easton 76 69, Mark Murless 77 68, Torben Baumann (GER) 76 69, Francois Coetzee 72 73, Andre Cruse 73 72
Missed the cut:
146 - Theunis Spangenberg 77 69, Chris Swanepoel 79 67, Alex Haindl 76 70, Eddie Taylor 72 74, Peter Karmis 75 71,JJ Senekal 77 69
147 - Divan van den Heever 74 73, Lindani Ndwandwe 79 68, Ruan de Smidt 73 74, Attie Schwartzel 74 73
148 - Derick Petersen 76 72, Vaughn Groenewald 77 71, Le Roux Ferreira 75 73
149 - Greg Bentley (ZIM) 79 70, Justin Harding 76 73, Tyrone Ferreira 80 69, Mark Williams 72 77, Doug McGuigan 77 72
150 - Charl Coetzee 77 73
151 - JG Claassen 82 69, Nico van Rensburg 78 73, Drikus van der Walt 78 73, Andrew McLardy 74 77
152 - Steven Ferreira 76 76
153 - Jake Redman 80 73
157 - Ockie Strydom 86 71
159 - Dean Burmester 86 73