Erik van Rooyen and Jacques Kruyswijk failed to capitalise on early good work as they fell behind the blistering pace set at the top of the Volvo China Open on Saturday.
The pair will start the final round seven and eight shots back respectively, after both signed for 70s.
Van Rooyen, who shares eighth with Haotong Li (66) and four others, birdied his second and third holes as he made steady progress up the leaderboard. Two further gains – at 7 and 9 – helped offset his drop at the fifth as he made the turn three back of China’s Ashun Wu.
The 29-year-old then slipped out of the chasing pack with drops at 11 and 13. A birdie at the last helped reduce the margin to Benjamin Hebert. The Frenchman’s sensational 64 – he came home in 28 – sees him one ahead of Finn Mikko Korhonen (65) and last week’s winner Jorge Campillo (68), with Wu (72) alone in fourth.
Of the top 22 players on the leaderboard, Wu and Tapio Pulkkanen were the only two players not able to better 72.
One back of Van Rooyen is countryman Kruyswijk, who is sharing 15th with eight others.
The Centurion golfer opened with two straight birdies for the third day in a row, but surrendered three shots between the fifth and the eight. His third birdie of the event at the ninth saw him work his way back to level par before he got back into red numbers with a birdie to start his inward run.
That gain did not spark a run as he worked his way around the rest of the course in pars before a closing birdie.
Louis de Jager shares 23rd after his bogey-free 68, while Haydn Porteous rose 25 places to share 30th after a 67 that included seven birdies.
