Dean Burmester in a tie for ninth will lead the SA charge heading into the final round of the Saudi-funded LIV Golf Adelaide on Sunday.
In difficult conditions on Saturday, Burmester signed for a one-under 71 to move to a three-under total.
Carlos Ortiz leads the way on nine-under, and it means Burmester will need something spectacular in round three to have any chance.
Burmester overtook Stingers teammate and countryman Charl Schwartzel on Saturday, as the 2011 Masters champion followed up an opening 69 with a second round 73 to drop to two-under and a tie for 15th place.
'We kept each other going'
"Tough one—windy, gusty, blustery, and the greens got super crispy and firm. Played with Jon Rahm, and we kept each other going the whole day,” said Burmester after his round.
I'm happy with my one-under. I think anything under par today was a special run of golf, so I'm very happy with that. I'm looking forward to trying to catch them tomorrow.”
On his chances in the final round, Burmester was cautiously optimistic.
"Tomorrow, hopefully, the conditions are a little easier. It looks like we're gonna get less wind, but the greens will still be firm and fast. It's all about placing your ball on those greens and making putts. Let's get all four Stingers firing and fresh in the morning—hopefully, we can all make a ton of putts.”
Last week, Burmester pocketed nearly R20m at the LIV Golf event at Riyadh Golf Club in Saudi Arabia. Burmester finished fourth on 14-under and pocketed a cool million dollars which works out to a quite incredible R18.4m.
With the same payouts on offer this week, Burmester certainly won’t need to pull off a win to guarantee another big paycheque.
However, with a first prize of a staggering $4 million (R73.9m) the motivation may just be quite high for all the chasers.