Craig Lee in joint seventh position

ERNIE ELS' 64 PUTS HIM IN COMMAND
OF ALFRED DUNHILL CHAMPIONSHIP

Ernie Els stamped his authority on the Alfred Dunhill Championship with an eight-under-par 64 to open up a two-shot lead at Leopard Creek Golf Club, South Africa today.
The world No 5, overdue a good performance, equalled the best round of the week so far, shot by Dutchman Joost Luiten earlier in the day, to head the field from English trio Lee Slattery, Ross McGowan and John Bickerton.
Slattery managed a five-under-par round of 67, two better than his countrymen, while Luiten was three shots further back on six under par alongside overnight leader Omar Sandys.
It was home favourite Els, though, who showed his class on a wet day in Malelane.
"I started off with two birdies and had so many other chances," said Els. "The start was really nice and kind of settled me down a little bit. I played really nice, hit the driver nice and my overall game was really good."

Stirling's Craig Lee, making his debut on the European Tour as a card-holder, is joint seventh on five-under-par 211. Peter Whiteford from Kirkcaldy, another new kid on the block, fell back with a 77 for 220, one shot behind another Scot, David Drysdale.

THIRD-ROUND TOTALS

Par 216 (3 x 72)
203 Ernie Els (RSA) 70 69 64.
205 Lee Slattery 73 65 67.
207 John Bickerton 70 69 68, Ross McGowan 71 69 67.
210 Joost Luiten (Net) 75 71 64, Omar Sandys (RSA) 68 68 74
211 Craig Lee 68 71 72, Titch Moore (Rsa) 71 68 72, David Dixon 72 72 67
212 Richard Bland 69 70 73, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 75 69 68, Oliver Wilson 73 71 68, Keith Horne (RSA) 74 70 68, Darren Clarke 73 69 70
213 David Carter 72 71 70, Sion Bebb 67 72 74, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 74 66 73, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 70 75 68.
214 Klas Eriksson (Swe) 74 71 69, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 77 67 70, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 70 74, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 75 71 68, Robert Rock 73 72 69, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 72 73 69, Wallie Coetsee (Rsa) 72 71 71, Trevor Fisher jun (RSA) 74 72 68, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 74 70 70
215 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 72 70 73, Gary Boyd 72 71 72, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 70 74 71, Luis Claverie (Spa) 74 70 71, Grant Veenstra (Rsa) 73 70 72, Julio Zapata (Arg) 77 69 69
216 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 76 67 73, Anton Haig (Rsa) 71 71 74, Benn Barham 72 71 73, Chris Swanepoel (Rsa) 73 73 70, Doug McGuigan 74 67 75, George Coetzee (Rsa) 69 72 75, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 72 73 71
217 Gary Clark 71 72 74, Magnus Carlsson (Swe) 72 71 74, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 73 73 71, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 75 69 73, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 75 70 72, Simon Dyson 75 68 74, Philip Golding 72 72 73, Alan Michell (Rsa) 72 73 72, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 75 71 71
218 Martin Wiegele (Aut) 74 71 73, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 74 70 74, Chris Williams (Rsa) 74 69 75, Dion Fourie (Rsa) 72 71 75, Stuart Manley 71 72 75, Stephen Browne 70 71 77
219 David Drysdale 73 72 74, Ross Fisher 76 70 73, Alan McLean 75 71 73
220 Peter Whiteford 71 72 77
221 Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 77 67 77, Michiel Bothma (Rsa) 78 67 76, Sven Struver (Ger) 72 73 76
222 James Kingston (Rsa) 71 74 77, Tyrone Van Aswegen (Rsa) 75 70 77
225 Kevin Stone (Rsa) 73 71 81, Rossouw Loubser (Rsa) 74 71 80