Marcus Kinhult found himself with a three-shot lead at the midway stage of the Alfred Dunhill Championship after firing a 68 on Friday.
The Swede laid much of the groundwork for his healthy halfway advantage in the first round when he carded a remarkable 65 in sweltering afternoon conditions at Leopard Creek to sit just one shot off the overnight lead held by morning starter Andy Sullivan.
And starting his second round in cooler weather on Friday morning, Kinhult made seven birdies and three bogeys to reach 11 under par, with things warming up during his round and causing problems for the later starters.
His closest challengers were England's Dale Whitnell, home favourite Dean Burmester and Italian Andrea Pavan on eight under.
Kinhult, whose only DP World Tour title to date came at the 2019 Betfred British Masters, said: "Yesterday was really good, I’m super happy with that round. I feel like I played well today also but I didn’t quite take advantage of the par fives today. I think that was the only difference.
"But I’m not upset. It was a good score today and I’m looking forward to two more rounds.
"Hopefully we can keep improving and we’ll see where that takes us."
Tom McKibbin followed up his opening 69 with a 73 and made the cut with a shot to spare at two under, but Conor Purcell's tournament is over after rounds of 75 and 71.
