South Africa's Dylan Frittelli in pole position ahead of final round in Bahrain

The South African won twice on the Europe-based circuit in 2017 but made the switch to the PGA Tour 12 months later, lifting the trophy at the 2019 John Deere Classic in his rookie season in the United States.

He lost his full playing privileges on that tour last term after missing the cut or withdrawing from 23 of his 27 starts but has been handed a lifeline thanks to a new exemption category on the DP World Tour for five players per event who finished between 126th and 200th on the 2023 FedEx Cup rankings.

After securing two top-20s in events on home soil before Christmas, he said this week he was "invigorated" to be back on his old stomping ground and after a third-round 69 at a windy Royal Golf Club, he is pole position for a first win in nearly five years.

"The main thing is just to be aggressive," he said. "It's easy to get conservative when the wind is blowing and lay up and hit some soft shots but I'm just going to try and make as many birdies as I can tomorrow.

"One shot clear I'll try and make it two and if I'm two shots clear I'll try and make it three, that's the goal and my mindset tomorrow."

"I'm happy, it was another tough day in the wind and I seemed to handle it pretty well. It's a pity about the two bogeys I made out there but I fought really hard today.

"It was not easy, it probably looked easy on TV but there was a lot of shots crosswind and downwind and I had to trust my numbers and my shot shape and I seemed to execute pretty well today."

Frittelli carded five birdies and two bogeys on day three in the desert to get to 12 under, two shots clear of countryman Ockie Strydom, with Swede Jesper Svensson a further shot back.

Englishman Sam Bairstow and Scotland's Scott Jamieson were part of a seven-way tie for fourth five shots off the lead.

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