Darren Fichardt made two birdies as play resumed at the weather-affected Investec South African Open Championship to open up a two-shot lead after round one at Durban Country Club.
The first round on Thursday was delayed by three hours after heavy rain on Tuesday night led to areas of the course being submerged.
A mammoth effort from greenkeeping staff saw play get under way at 09:20 local time but Fichardt still had four holes to complete when the hooter sounded to end play due to darkness.
At that point he was in a share of the lead with England's Sam Bairstow and Swede Fredrik From, both of whom had completed their rounds of 65, but when he got back on the course at 08.00 he birdied the 16th and last to jump out into a two-shot lead.
Branden Grace, Keith Horne and Marcel Siem all made moves up the leaderboard in completing their rounds to join Bairstow and From at seven under, one clear of Todd Clements, Haotong Li, Shaun Norris, John Parry, Jayden Schaper, Shubhankar Sharma and Richie Ramsay.
The last of Fichardt's five DP World Tour wins came at this event in 2017 but since then he has twice had to come through the Qualifying School, although a runner-up finish here and top 100 placing on the Race to Dubai Rankings last season showed he can still mix it with the young guns as he approaches his 50th birthday.
He missed his first four cuts of the season but sealed a tie for 21st at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and has brought that form to Durban, with his two early gains on Friday adding to Thursday's birdies on the second, third, fifth, sixth, tenth, 13th and 14th.
Of the other players to make moves upon the resumption, Horne birdied the sixth and ninth in his final nine holes, Siem had a birdie-birdie-birdie finish in his last five holes and Grace made four birdies and a bogey as he completed ten.
On Thursday, Bairstow turned in 32 blows after making birdies on the 13th, 14th, 16th and 18th.
After picking up another shot on the par-five third, Bairstow drained his monster birdie putt from around 50 feet at the fifth to join the lead.
He then sandwiched his only bogey of the day at the seventh between birdies on the sixth and eighth before safely parring the ninth to sign for a 65.
Bairstow said: "I putted really nicely. I hit a few wedges close and then holed a few putts.
"It was just a good day.
"Yesterday, walking down the 16th I thought there was going to be no chance (of playing on Thursday morning) but credit to the green staff for the work they've done and getting it playable."
From got off to a strong start, making an eagle on the third hole before firing back-to-back birdies on the fifth and sixth.
A dropped shot followed at the seventh but he bounced back with his second eagle of the day on the tenth.
He made two more birdies at the 12th and 13th before parring his way home.
From said: "The two eagles, I hit both of them quite stiff so it was not too much work.
"I putted OK and played pretty good. The driver was working nicely. It's the kind of golf course where you need to hit driver to get yourself opportunities.
"It feels like I'm representing both (the Swedish and South African) flags, to be honest. It would be lovely (to be up there on Sunday)."
