South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel opened up a two-shot lead following the third round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship on Saturday, as he remained on track to defend his title.

The Johannesburg native and 2011 Masters champion crushed the field last year on the Leopard Creek par-72 layout when he won by 12 strokes, just one week after winning the Thailand Open by 11 shots.

A bogey free round of 67 that included five birdies kept Schwartzel top of the leaderboard on 13 under with England’s Richard Finch alone in second and Frenchman Victor Riu on ten under, with his compatriot Romain Wattel a further shot back.

“It’s one of those courses where I’m comfortable with all of the right lines,” the former world number six told EuropeanTour.com.

“A lot of golf courses you need to hit on lines that you feel awkward with, but this course is mostly right in front of you. And I think it helps that I’ve had good success here,” continued Schwartzel.

“If I had really putted well today, it could have been very low. The good thing is that I know it’s there. It very easily could have been low, but it was still a solid round of golf and this is still a tough golf course.

“I felt a lot more comfortable and consequently I was hitting a lot more positive shots. I felt a little more in control than the last few days.

“I hope a good round like this picks me up and I go out tomorrow (Sunday) and have the same,” he concluded.

Finch knows he has his work cut out to close down the gap on the in-form South African who will be hot favourite heading into Sunday’s final round.

“If he goes out and shoots a 65, it’s done and dusted,” said the Englishman.

“He’s one of the best players in the world.

Denmark’s Morten Orum Madsen, who narrowly defeated Schwartzel last weekend at the South African Open and began the day as joint overnight leader, plummeted down the leaderboard with a disastrous 79 to fall out of contention.