The third round of the Blue Label Challenge at Gary Player Country Club once again showed golf’s wonderful ability to surprise us as qualifier Dylan Mostert soared to the top of the leaderboard with a four-under-par round of 68.

Mostert will go into Saturday’s final round with a one-point lead in the modified Stableford scoring system over the experienced Lyle Rowe, with first-round leader Ockie Strydom another point back.

Mostert began the penultimate round in seventh place, five points off Ruan Korb’s lead. Making the cut was an achievement alone for the 23-year-old because he has not managed that in his three previous Sunshine Tour events this year.

Hence his need to prequalify for this R1.5-million tournament.

The State Mines golfer birdied the par-three third hole, but his real charge up the leaderboard came around the turn when he picked up three birdies in four holes.

Two more birdies on the 14th and 15th holes sealed a marvellous round for Mostert.

Rowe was on fire on the back nine, where he collected six of his eight points and he is on track to contend for his first title since the Zimbabwe Open in 2016.

Strydom continued to be on a rollercoaster ride around one of South Africa’s most prestigious courses. His only points on the front nine were a minus-one for a bogey on the fourth, and on the back nine, he mixed three birdies with two dropped shots.

Rhys Enoch and Jaco Ahlers both collected five points on Friday and finished on 21 points overall, in a tie for fourth place.