Oosthuizen, Schwartzel set for Leopard Creek duel

● The hippos, elephants, kudus and impalas must for once take their place in the shadows as two of South Africa’s big golfing dogs

— Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel — go head to head in the final round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek today.

The pair, great chums who’ve each won a Major, finished yesterday’s third round of the DP World Tour event tied on -15, with Oosthuizen equalling the course record with a nine-under par round of 63.

Schwartzel, playing a few groups behind, eventually closed the gap on his mate with a seven-under par 65, making birdies at the 17th and 18th holes.

It was a sweltering day on the banks of the Crocodile River, forcing the omnipresent elephant herds to seek comfort in the water, and almost tempting Oosthuizen to request a beer from the small group of patrons allowed at the exclusive venue.

He resisted doing so and instead quenched his thirst with seven birdies and an eagle, romping into the lead — thanks to mesmerising putting mixed with a precise approach to play. “I didn’t take a lot of risks, I just played solid,” said Oosthuizen, who is looking for his first win at Leopard Creek.

“It’s the one event I really want on my CV. I’ve messed it up a lot of times,” he said.

Schwartzel gritted his teeth after a bogey at the par-3 seventh and eventually found his rhythm on the back nine, which he played in a somewhat ludicrous 31 strokes.

The 2011 Masters champion birdied three of the last five holes and eagled another to hunt down Oosthuizen and ensure they will be in the last group for the final round.

Today’s play will start earlier as the organisers seek to avoid a thunderstorm forecast for the region in the late afternoon.

Schwartzel, a four-time winner of the event, with three of those triumphs coming at its current home, and Oosthuizen gave themselves a buffer of five shots over the rest of the field. Such was the quality of their irons and subsequent putting, that it left the likes of Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Englishman Andy Sullivan in the shade.

Bezuidenhout, a winner at Leopard Creek in 2020, shot a solid 68, showing improvement on the second half of his round after an inconsistent start that saw him bogey the fifth and ninth holes.

It left him tied on 10-under with Sullivan, the 2015 SA Open champion, who signed for a 69 after eagling the final hole.

For the others, the high temperatures and occasional gusts of wind made life extremely tricky. Overnight leader Casey Jarvis’ frustration was made apparent following an errant drive at 14th, eliciting a “Oh for f***’s sake, you have to be kidding me” from the 20-year-old Boksburg native.

Jarvis went around in two over 74, that included a double bogey at the 15th, leaving him tied on eight-under par, with five others. Englishman Marco Penge held the lead at the halfway turn, but played a catastrophic back nine, making five bogeys to leave him six shots behind the leaders.

All of them will have to do something special to get themselves into the mix in the last round. However given their experience, the South African pair at the top of the leaderboard will be hard to catch.

But a duel at the Kruger Park should make for enthralling viewing all of its own and even some of the wildlife may tune in — if they can drag themselves away from the cooling current of the Crocodile River.

Such was the quality of their irons and subsequent putting that it left the likes of Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Englishman Andy Sullivan in the shade