A level-par 72 kept him at 17 under par overall and opened the door for Christiaan Burke (third-round 67), Jaco Prinsloo (66) and Jack Davidson (68) to close the gap as they finished the third round on 15 under par.
The round had to be suspended late in the afternoon because of darkness, with a few players who will have to complete their third rounds on Sunday morning before the start of the final round.
Pepler, who started the day with a six-shot lead after rounds of 63 and 64, had to dig deep as things did not go all his way on Saturday.
“It wasn’t the easiest of days today. I started with a birdie on the second hole, and then things went a little bit sideways. I wasn’t swinging it great and I put myself under a bit more pressure than what I was doing the first two days. I was hitting it in the wrong places today and was not making my putts,” said Pepler.
The big man made three bogeys in his next four holes after that early birdie. Then came a birdie on the eighth, a bogey on the 10th and a further two birdies on holes 15 and 17.
“It was a little bit of a grinding day, but I managed to finish it off with two birdies on the last four holes. I am still happy to be in the lead with two shots.”
Going into the final day, Pepler said he wants to put the tough third round behind him and focus on his quest for a second Sunshine Tour title.
“I have a little bit of a cushion going into tomorrow, but today was a bit of a wakeup call that everything is not always going to go your way for a full week. I am still happy with the lead and excited going into the final round, and to do better than what I did today,” Pepler said.
Behind him, Prinsloo will be a threat as a player in incredible form. Prinsloo hasn’t finished worse than fifth in his last four Sunshine Tour events.
SCORES
-17 – Gerhard Pepler 63 64 72
-15 – Christiaan Burke 66 68 67
-15 – Jaco Prinsloo 70 65 66, Jack Davidson 66 67 68
-12 – Charl Barnard 68 70 66
-12 – Tyrone Ryan 66 71 67, Estiaan Conradie 69 70 65
-11 – Graham van der Merwe 69 68 68
-11 – Jacques P de Villiers 68 65 72
-10 – Ethan Smith 68 70 68
-10 – Pieter Moolman 67 70 69, Luke Brown 71 68 67, Jason Roets 67 68 71, Justin Walters 70 63 73
-9 – Ockie Strydom 68 70 69
-9 – Agustin Errazuriz 68 70 69, Hennie O’Kennedy 72 66 69, Samuel Simpson 69 70 68, Benjamin Kedochim 72 65 70, Kyle Barker 72 67 68, Altin van der Merwe 69 70 (-4) [17]
-8 – Simon du Plooy 73 66 69
-8 – Tomas Gana 70 69 69, Warwick Purchase 70 67 71, Pierre Pellegrin 72 67 69, Rowan Lester 68 71 69
-7 – Stals Swart 71 70 68
-7 – Jean Hugo 70 70 69, Quintin Wilsnach 68 70 71, Ryan van der Klis 70 68 71, Jordan Burnand 69 70 (-2) [17]
-6 – Louis Albertse 71 71 68
-6 – Gabriel Morgan 73 67 70, Joe Sullivan 70 70 70, Haydn Porteous 73 66 71
-5 – Lyle Rowe 72 70 69
-5 – Luis Carrera 73 68 70, Cole Stevens 73 69 69, Daniel Cronje 71 70 70, Doug McGuigan 69 72 70, Thomas Spreadborough 69 71 71
-4 – Malcolm Mitchell 71 72 69
-4 – Heinrich Bruiners 74 69 69, Albert Venter 74 69 69, Trevor Fisher Jnr 72 70 70, Oliver Goldhill 71 71 70, Stephen Ferreira 72 70 70, Pierre Viallaneix 73 69 70, Benjamin Van Wyk 70 71 71, Jacques Van der Merwe 74 67 71, Anthony Michael 72 67 73
-3 – James Mack 74 69 70
-3 – Tyran Snyders 73 68 72, Thabiso Ngcobo 72 69 72
-2 – Luke Jerling 73 70 71
-2 – Rupert Kaminski 74 69 71, Kyle De Beer 68 74 72, Matthew Spacey 70 70 74, Danie Van Niekerk 69 71 74
-1 – Toto Thimba Jnr 71 71 73
-1 – Keagan Thomas 71 71 73, Jaden Deltel 71 70 74
+4 – Wynand Dingle 71 72 77
+6 – Astin Arthur 72 71 79
Article Link: Pepler on track to go wire to wire