It was a rather difficult day for the South African golfers out on the Emirates Golf Club on Saturday, with only Dean Burmester in some contention heading into the final day of the 2020 Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
The 30-year-old started the third round one shot off the pace after an excellent performance on Friday.
But he could only manage a round of even par on moving day as he remains on seven under par for the competition.
Despite being the highest-placed South African, Burmester is still four shots behind the new leader, Ashun Wu from China, who carded a brilliant round of 67.
He will take a one-stroke lead into Sunday with Frenchman Victor Perez in second place.
Perez has been looking good since last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and is in a great position now to launch an attack on the final day to claim his second European Tour title.
One further shot behind him in T3 is a group of Tom Lewis, Kurt Kitayama and defending champion Bryson Dechambeau, who are all on 10 under par and also very much in reach of Wu heading into the all-important final round.
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South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout made a strong start to his third round, though, and was two under for the round after the front nine.
But two bogeys on the back nine meant he also had to settle for an even par round and remains on five under for the competition.
Talisman Louis Oosthuizen has continued to struggle, however, and is pretty much out of a chance of securing a win in Dubai.
The 37-year-old had a frustrating second round on Friday and that continued into Saturday when he went one over for the day.
At even par he will be hoping to produce some sort of consolation round in order to secure a higher finish than his current T45.
