Home favourite Shaun Norris made 12 birdies and no bogeys in 27 holes on Friday to lead by one shot when the second round of the Investec South African Open Championship was suspended due to darkness at 18.21 local time.
After heavy rain and the mammoth effort to get the course playable caused a three-hour delay to the start of the tournament on Thursday, Norris was among the large number of players who had to return to the course early on day two to finish off their opening rounds.
He began the day on two under after nine holes before adding four birdies on the back nine to sign for a flawless first-round 66.
And Norris, who is looking to win another big title on home soil after getting his second DP World Tour victory at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in December, made eight more birdies in a spotless second round to set the clubhouse target at 14 under par and stay bogey-free for the tournament.
Countryman Dylan Naidoo was Norris' nearest challenger on 13 under after his second-round 61 but plenty of afternoon starters still have an opportunity to close the gap when round two resumes at 07.30 on Saturday, including Sam Bairstow who sits on 11 under with ten holes to go.
Friday will live long in the memory of Dale Whitnell after he sensationally made two holes-in-one in his second round.
The Englishman aced the par-three second and 12th in a remarkable nine-under-par 63 which included a further eagle, seven birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey.
Norris got off to a strong start when the first round resumed on Friday, opening with a birdie at the tenth before picking up further shots on the 12th, 13th and 17th.
He carried on where he left off as he got round two under way, birdieing the tenth again before making a hat-trick of gains on the 12th, 13th and 14th.
The 42-year-old closed his front nine with a further birdie on the 18th, while two fantastic birdie putts at the third and fourth sent him two clear at the top of the leaderboard.
An eight-foot birdie from below the hole at the sixth took Norris to 14 under and a good up-and-down for par on the last kept him out in front.
He said: "It was a nice build-up from this morning. I finished off nicely from the morning round and carried on this afternoon.
"I'm hitting the ball nicely so I'm putting myself in good positions, just looking at birdies all the time. And the short game has been strong.
"So I'm looking forward to the next couple of days.
"Any National Open is the most important to anybody so to stamp my name on that trophy would be an absolute blessing."
