MALELANE, South Africa — South Africa's Charl Schwartzel surged into a 10-shot lead at the Alfred Dunhill Championship after an eight-under-par 64 in the third round at the Leopard Creek Country Club Saturday. The former Masters champion began the day locked in a tie with Gregory Bourdy with both men on 13-under. However, the Frenchman bogeyed his first hole on the way to a two-over 74 while Schwartzel fired 10 birdies with just two dropped shots, his first of this week's tournament, as he shot a second 64 in a row to go with his first round 67. Despite his impressive lead Schwartzel is not taking anything for granted ahead of the final round. “As a golfer you don't like to think like that. It's a nice comfort and I'd rather be 10 ahead than nine ahead. Whatever lead you can build is great. We've all see what can happen in this game. I don't want to think about it,” he told reporters. Schwartzel enjoyed a superb front nine as he made the turn at four-under for the round after just 31 strokes on the picturesque par-72 lay-out bordering the Kruger National Park. He then fired four consecutive birdies from the 12th before chalking up another birdie on the 541-yeard par five 18th. Asia fights back Asia stormed back into contention at the Royal Trophy Saturday by taking three points from the four fourball matches against Europe to close the deficit to just one ahead of the final day singles. Holder Europe has a slender 4 1/2-3 1/2 lead ahead of Sunday's eight singles matches at the Empire Country Club in Brunei with Jose Maria Olazabal's side needing four more points to win the annual contest loosely based on the Ryder Cup model. India's Jeev Milkha Singh rolled in a four-foot putt on the 18th as he and Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand scored a fighting half in their match against Olazabal and Spanish compatriot Miguel Angel Jimenez in the opening game of the day. Jimenez and Olazabal both narrowly missed makeable putts on the last to claim the win. Despite the pain, Olazabal, who grimaced after hitting shots, will lead off the singles against South Korean Bae Sang-moon on Sunday. South Korean Kim Kyung-tae then rolled in a four-footer on the 17th as he and compatriot Yang Yong-eun claimed a topsy-turvy 2&1 win over Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Swede Henrik Stenson. The Korean duo were five up through nine holes but the Europeans closed the deficit and trailed by only one with three to play before Kim's pinpoint approach to the par-four 17th set up a birdie and Asia's first win of the sixth edition. Bae could have added the second win for Asia shortly after but he missed his birdie effort on the 18th to half the match with Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts and German playing partner Marcel Siem. Bae and Chinese partner Wu Ashun would have had two putts for the win but European Ryder Cup winner Colsaerts rolled in a 14ft effort on the final green to set up the half. Japanese duo Ryo Ishikawa and Yoshinori Fujimoto then sealed a come-from-behind 3&1 win over Italian brothers Edoardo and Francesco Molinari. — Agencies
