• Volvo Golf Champions, Round Three

Colsaerts & Grace under fire from big names

Nicolas Colsaerts dragged himself back into contention © Getty Images

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Leaderboard

Nicolas Colsaerts and Branden Grace are at the front of a crowded leaderboard going into the final round of the Volvo Golf Champions in South Africa.

Colsaerts, the first round pacesetter, and Grace, the 36-hole leader, are one shot clear of the rest of the field at 10-under going into the final round at The Links at Fancourt.

Belgian Colsaerts had the best day, engineering a four-under par round of 69 to bounce back from a disappointing 76 on Friday (which included a fantastic eagle at the last), while Grace had to hold on after a shocking start as he overcame two double-bogeys on the back nine to salvage a round of 75 and drop just two shots against par.

"I played really well today," Grace said. "Conditions were tough out there - we always knew there was going to be bogeys on the card - nothing you can do about it.

"I just had a couple unlucky shots that didn't bounce anyway in the fairways and got into pot bunkers and it happened on the tough holes which is a bit unfortunate. But otherwise, I'm still really happy with the way I played and I thought I handled it really good."

Both players will hardly consider themselves favourite to go on and win the European Tour event, however, with five players - all major champions - within three shots of them. South African duo Charl Schwartzel and Retief Goosen are the nearest challengers at nine-under after rounds of 68 and 70 respectively, increasing the chances of a South African victory on Tour for the third week in succession.

European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal - in the field due to his status as a former Order of Merit winner - is also firmly in the hunt at eight-under, after he finished strongly with four birdies in his closing six holes.

Padraig Harrington and Louis Oosthuizen complete the list of current and former major champions to be applying the pressure on Grace and Colsaerts, as they had rounds of 70 and 72 respectively to slip in at seven-under overall.

Ernie Els is six-under, while Darren Clarke and Lee Slattery will need strong final rounds if they are to contend from their current four-under positions.

Elsewhere, Tom Lewis slipped well down the field after a disappointing 77. That was nothing compared to Spaniard Pablo Martin, however, as he suffered something of a meltdown on the way to a third round 90 - taking 49 shots on the back nine alone.

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