It’s a story that goes back to their junior golf days together and it’s one that will continue on Sunday as co-leaders Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel will battle it out for the Alfred Dunhill Championship title at Leopard Creek.

The two South Africans and fellow Major champions came through Saturday’s third round tied for the lead on 15 under par, five strokes clear of their nearest challengers Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Andy Sullivan.

Oosthuizen secured his place at the top of the leaderboard with a magnificent joint course record 63, while an injury-free Schwartzel showed exactly why he so loves this course with his round of 65.

And now Schwartzel, the winner of four Alfred Dunhill Championship titles and with a further four runners-up finishes here, and Oosthuizen, who has twice finished runner-up in this championship, will do what they’ve done since their early amateur days and battle each other for a title they both desperately want.

“We’ve been friends for a long time and we’ve played this game for a long time. I don’t think we’ll treat it any other way than just trying our best and let the outcome be what it will,” said Schwartzel.

Oosthuizen certainly wants to add his name to a trophy that is close to any South African golfer’s heart.

“It would mean a lot. It’s the one event I’ve really wanted on my CV and I’ve come close a few times. I think I’ve got a good shot at it now,” he said.

Both Oosthuizen and Schwartzel were certainly in incredible form on Saturday.

Oosthuizen surged through the field with a round of seven birdies and an eagle, while Schwartzel produced a strong back nine in which he made four birdies and an eagle over his final seven holes.

“You know, this golf course can bite you and I’ve been on the bad side of this course a few times. There are certain holes where you can’t back down and you just need to make a good swing – I stuck with that today and didn’t back off on tough shots. It was pretty cool to tie the course record. The golf course is in such good shape that you feel like you have to play well because it’s such a beautiful setting,” said Oosthuizen.

Schwartzel had a similar approach to not fear certain shots on this course.

“Everything felt good and my golf swing was back to how I remember it. I had total control of the golf ball and that was fun.”

Behind them, Bezuidenhout remains a very real threat as well having won this title in 2020 and now lining up a shot at a second triumph here following his third round of 68.

Scores:

201 - Louis Oosthuizen 70 68 63, Charl Schwartzel 68 68 65

206 - Christiaan Bezuidenhout 68 70 68, Andy Sullivan 68 69 69

207 - Ashun Wu 68 70 69, Marco Penge 69 66 72

208 - Johannes Veerman 70 71 67, Matti Schmid 72 69 67, Wynand Dingle 70 68 70, Jayden Schaper 66 72 70, Robin Williams 65 71 72, Casey Jarvis 67 67 74

209 - Alejandro Del Rey 72 71 66, Kristian Krogh Johannessen 70 72 67, Christiaan Maas 67 73 69, Luca Filippi 68 70 71, Sam Bairstow 71 66 72

210 - Pieter Moolman 70 72 68, Andrea Pavan 70 70 70, JC Ritchie 73 67 70, Renato Paratore 69 70 71, Erik van Rooyen 68 70 72, Paul Waring 68 68 74

211 - Will Enefer 72 71 68, Darius van Driel 70 72 69, Ugo Coussaud 68 74 69, Dylan Naidoo 70 71 70, Matthias Schwab 70 71 70, Dale Whitnell 71 69 71

212 - Samuel Jones 67 75 70, Thriston Lawrence 73 69 70, Matthew Baldwin 74 68 70, Antoine Rozner 71 71 70, Matthis Besard 70 71 71, Espen Kofstad 69 72 71, Aaron Cockerill 69 72 71, Keenan Davidse 73 66 73, Manuel Elvira 66 71 75, Christo Lamprecht 67 69 76

213 - Anthony Michael 71 72 70, Jaco Prinsloo 67 76 70, Adrien Saddier 68 75 70, Thomas Aiken 71 72 70

214 - Dylan Frittelli 72 71 71, Alexander Levy 71 72 71, Scott Jamieson 67 76 71, James Morrison 69 73 72, Jaco Van Zyl 68 74 72, Joakim Lagergren 68 71 75

215 - Jean Hugo 72 71 72, Edoardo Molinari 70 73 72, Neil Schietekat 72 69 74, Louis de Jager 70 69 76

216 - Daniel van Tonder 72 71 73, Mike Lorenzo-Vera 74 69 73, Nikhil Rama 71 71 74, Wilco Nienaber 72 70 74, Soren Kjeldsen 71 71 74, Francesco Laporta 70 71 75, Jamie Donaldson 71 70 75

217 - Joshua Berry 70 73 74, Jeff Winther 74 68 75, Dean Burmester 69 73 75, Kyle Barker 70 67 80

218 - Chase Hanna 72 71 75, Darren Fichardt 69 73 76

219 - Zander Lombard 73 70 76, Andrew Johnston 69 72 78

221 - Doug McGuigan 73 70 78

222 - Malcolm Mitchell 69 72 81