Schwartzel made another fast start to his round, opening with three birdies and a chip-in for eagle in his first six holes. In each of the first two rounds he was four under through the first six holes.

But a run of three bogeys in four holes over the turn and strong charges from the rest of the field saw a comfortable six-shot lead quickly reduced.

Des Terblanche made the first move, posting a bogey-free 65 that included two eagles and saw him in the clubhouse at nine under.

Pilkington, a graduate from the European Challenge Tour, surpassed that with a 65 of his own to set the clubhouse mark at 10 under.

Westwood then surged into contention and after being level par for his round through the first five holes, added four birdies and an eagle to share the lead with Schwartzel.

But the young star responded with birdies at holes 14 and 15 - the latter of which saw him almost chip in for eagle - to give himself a one-shot cushion over Westwood.

Westwood then stumbled at the par-five 18th, putting his second into the water guarding the green and taking a bogey to give Schwartzel a comfortable two-shot cushion.

'It was a bit of an up and down day,' said Schwartzel, who won here in 2004 and finished second in 2005.

'I started even better than the other days. But then I had those bogeys in the middle. I didn't hit bad shots for those bogeys, they just all came up short.

'I looked at the on-course leaderboard and saw Lee was seven under, then another one showed him at nine under and then another at 11 under so I knew he was making birdies.

'I wanted to birdie the last for a three-shot cushion, but two shots is also okay.'