Zander Lombard produced a brilliant birdie-birdie-birdie finish on day three to catapult himself into a three-shot lead heading into the final round of the Soudal Open.
The South African started the day in a share of the lead and while he quickly jumped clear, a wobble in the middle of the round allowed countryman MJ Daffue to join him in the lead after a 65.
Lombard, however, was clearly not in the mood to be caught and his big finish saw him sign for a 66 and vault to 18 under as he looks to seal a maiden DP World Tour title in wire-to-wire style.
Dane Jacob Skov Olesen, England's Ben Schmidt and Frenchman Tom Vaillant were at 14 under, a shot clear of Swede Albin Bergstrom, Spain's Jorge Campillo, Englishman Andrew Johnston and South Africa's Richard Sterne.
Lombard has seven runner-up finishes on the DP World Tour, with five of them coming between 2022 and 2024, before he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament playing padel and suffered a seven-month layoff.
He could not keep his card upon his return but romped to a 13-shot victory at the Qualifying School Final Stage in November and will now be looking to complete his comeback in fine style at Rinkven International Golf Club.
“If I knew, I would have won by now,” he said when asked about getting over the line. “But I'm just going stick to my guns, stick to my strengths and keep ticking my box to stay in my bubble.
“That putt on 18 was kind of an awkward double breaker and to put a good roll on it and to see it go in, that makes you sleep a little better tonight and come out fresh tomorrow.
“You don’t deserve anything in golf but I think I've worked really hard for it. It was a very slow turn, around nine, ten, 11, 12, a couple of loose shots. So to have that three-shot lead after hitting a couple of bad shots, it's very nice going into tomorrow.”
Lombard hit smart approaches to birdie the first and third and when he holed from 33 feet for eagle on the fifth, his advantage was three.
Overnight co-leader Vaillant had also taken advantage of the par five after laying up and he holed a 25-footer on the seventh as Lombard three-putted and the advantage was just one at the turn.
Water at the 13th saw Vaillant drop a first shot of the week – doing well to make bogey with a brilliant up-and-down – and on the next it was Lombard’s turn to find the wet and surrender a shot.
That briefly left the door ajar to the rest of the field and Daffue was the man to walk through as a closing birdie saw him join the lead and set the clubhouse target.
He had earlier turned in 32 with an eagle at the fifth courtesy of a second to eight feet sandwiched by a smart approach at the third and driving the green at the par four eighth.
Up-and-downs at the relatively short par-four 11th and 14th brought further gains and while he dropped a shot on the next, that closing gain after an approach to three feet had him at 15 under.
Lombard, however, after that shaky middle part of the round found another gear, playing a neat up-and-down after driving to near the front of the 16th green and then taking advantage of the par-five next before holing a 20-footer on the last.
“It was a lovely start and I kind of dragged my heels a bit around the turn, a few loose shots and managed to get a few good up-and-downs,” Lambard added.
“I said to my caddie after hitting a drive on 14 into the water, ‘why are we doing this? Why are we playing these stupid shots?’. And then after making that putt on 15, I said, ‘that was the last of it. Let's get back into our focus’ and then finished with three birdies in a row.
"So, I think it was a good character-building day today and ready for tomorrow.”
Vaillant bogeyed the 14th but picked the shot back up on the 16th to sign for a 70, while Olesen and Schmidt both carded rounds 67 as all three search for their own maiden wins.
Bergstrom carded a 66, one better than Johnston and two beter than Campillo and Sterne, with Nathan Kimsey in the group at 12 under after matching the low round of the week with a 63.
