SURREY, England, May 24 (UPI) -- South African Trevor Immelman took charge of the Volvo PGA championship on Saturday.
World No. 2 Ernie Els, his playing partner, watched every one of the 64 shots that swept the 23-year-old from three strokes behind to two ahead with a round to go. Immelman is at 14-under-par 202 for the tournament.
Els lies joint third after a 5-under-par 67, but does not expect it to be easy to dislodge Immelman from the top spot. He describes him as South Africa's "next superstar."
"I've known Trevor since he was about seven," said Els. "He has always had the dedication and the desire and the way he is going he will be a world star."
Immelman, who was runner-up to Scot Craig Watson in the British amateur championship at Royal St George's in 1997, respects his older countryman.
"I always looked up to Ernie when I was coming through the ranks and he was kind enough to take me under his wing," he said. "I felt very comfortable today because I've played and practiced a lot with him. He is like a big brother to me. A lot of the shots I hit he taught me.
"I had a near-perfect round but for 3-putting the 15th. That was pretty much as good as I can play and it was a lot of fun."
Immelman was only an inch away from the course record. His 40-foot eagle putt on the last looked as if it was in all the way, but it caught the edge of the hole and lipped out. The birdie there was his ninth of the round and six of them came in the last eight holes.
Immelman leads Niclas Fasth by two shots, with the Swede having much the better of his Ryder Cup battle with halfway leader Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland.
Fasth matched Immelman's three closing birdies for a 68, but Clarke had to battle hard for a 72 after double-bogeying both the third and seventh holes.
"I need to work a few miracles," said the Ulsterman, now five back. "Hopefully a few things might go my way, but I played a very average chip on the third and then went in a ditch on the seventh when I was trying to get a bit of momentum back."
Els shares third with Spaniard Ignacio Garrido at 11-under, while Paul Casey produced the other 64 of the day to join Scot Gordon Brand Jr. and Swede Mathias Gronberg in fifth place one further behind.
Britain's Nick Faldo is in the group on 9-under and promises to go for everything in a bid for a record fifth win at this event, but Colin Montgomerie of Scotland failed to birdie either of the two closing par fives and at 8-under has a mountain to climb to make it four wins in five years.
Els threatened to rip the course record apart when he followed birdies at the second and third holes with an eagle on the next, but then he admitted he went "sleep-walking" by bogeying the seventh, eighth and ninth - all of them with nine-irons to the green.
Casey sank a 45-foot eagle putt at the last hole to complete his day's work and now has a chance of back-to-back victories on British soil following his four-stroke triumph in the Benson and Hedges International Open at The Belfry two weeks ago.
"The putt on the last was bonus," he said. "I had a couple of chances for eagle earlier on and they slipped by, so that was nice. The course was for the taking. The weather was absolutely perfect and the pace of play was nice."
