It was a good day in the office for South Africa’s Louis de Jager in the third round of the DP World Tour’s Hero Open in Scotland where he shot a near-perfect four-under-par 68 to total 14-under while remaining four shots off the lead ahead of the final round.

America’s Sean Crocker maintained his lead after firing in a 69 to get his total to 18-under and two shots clear of Sweden’s Jens Dantorp.

De Jager’s efforts catapulted him to a four-way share of the fifth spot along with Oliver Farr, Eddie Pepperell of England and France’s Victor Dubuisson, with De Jager taking over from Wilco Nienaber as the leading South African in the tournament.

His round was characterised by birdies on six and seven on the front, while his back nine consisted of birdies on 12 and 13, a bogey on 14 and another birdie on the par-five 18^th.

Nienaber’s second-round 61 was always going to prove to be tough to repeat, even for him, and he struggled to a one-under 71 on Saturday. He, Ross Fisher and Oliver Hundeboll share 9^th on 13-under ahead of the final round.

Jacques Kruyswijk shot his third consecutive 68 to get it to 12-under for the week and six shots shy of Crocker’s lead. He is in a share of 12^th and in with a chance if he can play as well as he is known to on the Sunshine Tour. On 11-under-par for the week, JC Ritchie and Justin Walters are in a share of 17^th with five others.

Brandon Stone and Bryce Easton both shot 71s in round three to tie 47^th on eight-under-par while Adilson da Silva’s 74 proved costly, plunging him to a share of 62^nd on five-under-par.