Louis Oosthuizen and Richard Sterne will head into the final 36 holes at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in a share of second place.
The pair fired matching 68s to trail Shane Lowry by one at the halfway mark.
Oosthuizen started brightly, making birdies at the short fourth and seventh holes before holing his 12-foot birdie putt at the par-five eighth to join Lee Westwood at the summit on ten under.
But after sending his ball into a bush at the tenth, he had to play his fourth shot from the 11th tee, and surrendered a bogey before dropping another shot at the 11th to fall back to eight under.
After getting a lucky break when his second shot at the 18th landed in the bunker before coming out again, Oosthuizen lifted his approach to within inches of the cup before tapping in for a closing birdie.
‘Trying to win any event and going into the weekend really close, it’s always exciting,’ said Oosthuizen.
Fellow South African Sterne, who was a late starter on Thursday, reached the turn in 33 after making three birdies on his front nine before closing his round with another gain at the ninth – his last – to join Oosthuizen on 11 under.
Erik van Rooyen, Justin Walters and Branden Grace will need a strong finish over the remaining two days if they are to move into contention.
The trio are at -5 with Zander Lombard and Dean Burmester one further back. Darren Fichardt was the last South African to make the cut, which fell at -3.
That number left Brandon Stone, George Coetzee and Thomas Aiken one short and missing the weekend alongside Trevor Immelman, Jacques Kruyswijk, Haydn Porteous, Jaco Van Zyl and Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
