Jacques van der Merwe will take a three-shot lead into the final round of the fifth Betway Big Easy Tour tournament, thanks to a second-round seven-under 63, which took his total to 12-under at CMR Golf Club.

On Wednesday, Van der Merwe solidified his spot among the top players this week, waltzing to a sizzling 63, which consisted of nine birdies and two drops. Now, three shots clear and with a real shot at claiming his breakthrough win on this Sunshine Tour feeder circuit, Van der Merwe remains grounded, instead choosing to focus on his processes.

“I don’t really care about the position that much,” declared Van der Merwe, who displayed a calm persona. “I enjoy this course, and I just want to go out and give it another shot. I want to go out and focus on my processes. I want to achieve the goals I have control over, and the rest will happen.”

The weather conditions were tough on Wednesday, with the wind picking up quite early on in the round, a factor that would affect even the best of professionals. Van der Merwe embraced the challenge and played himself to the summit of the leaderboard.

“It’s basically the same as yesterday,” said Van der Merwe of the windy and testing conditions in Roodepoort. “I just controlled what I could control and let the rest happen. I can’t get angry if I do all the process work well, which I did today. I just went back to that on every single shot and every hole, and it worked out well.

“The conditions were tough, but I enjoyed it. I handled it well. I just stuck to my plan and made a few nice putts, and walked off with a really nice score, so I’m happy with my round.”

Van der Merwe will seek to replicate the performances of the first 36 holes here because lurking dangerously is Kimberley Golf Club’s Bradley de Beer, whose 64 catapulted him to second on the leaderboard on a tournament total of nine-under-par.

A rejuvenated Haydn Porteous will go into the final round of this 54-hole event trailing by four after his second successive 66 took his total to eight-under.

Regan Steyn, Leon Visser, Liam Ross, Richard Joubert and Joe Sullivan share the fourth spot at six-under while Daniel Cronje, Khanya Mkhize, Drikus Joubert and Johnathan Ackerman share ninth at five-under for the week.