It was a round that had a little bit of everything, but all of it was good enough to earn Jean-Paul Strydom a two-stroke lead going into Friday’s final day of the Sunbet Challenge hosted by Time Square at Wingate Park Country Club.

Strydom signed for a six-under-par 66 including an eagle, six birdies and two bogeys, to take the lead on 12-under-par.

His nearest challengers are South Africans Gerhard Pepler and James Mack, and Australia’s Austin Bautista on 10-under-par. Multiple DP World Tour winner George Coetzee is also well placed just three strokes off the lead.

But for Strydom, it was the kind of day he’d like to repeat for the final round as he looks to claim his first victory since 2019.

“Hopefully we can just copy and paste what we have been doing over the last two days. I’ve been in this position a couple of times and only brought it home once, so a second title would mean a lot to me,” he said.

“Today was good. It started a bit shaky off the tee, but I managed to find a bit of rhythm. It was the same in the first round. I made a soft bogey on my 17th hole (the par-three eighth), but I bounced back with a birdie on my final hole which is always nice.”

Strydom has struggled with injury and knows the value of this two-stroke lead and the chance he now has. But he’s also doing his best not to get ahead of himself.

“The gameplan is literally to find the fairways and make the putts. That is the key at Wingate. But I’m looking forward to the final round.”