Morten Ørum Madsen continued his impressive form on South African soil to claim the clubhouse lead midway through the second round of the Tshwane Open.
The South African Open Championship winner carded seven birdies in a flawless second round 65 at Copperleaf Golf & Country Estate, reaching 12 under for the week.
The 25 year old burst out the blocks with four gains in his first five holes, turned in 31 and, after a quiet spell in the middle of his round, picked up further shots at the sixth and seventh.
A closing bogey looked to be on the cards after an errant drive, but Madsen produced a brilliant pitched third to a foot to salvage par.
“I got off to a great start this morning,” said Madsen.
“Winning has calmed me down a little bit, just by knowing what to expect. It's hard to birdie every hole and you've got to deal with adversity well, because you're not going to play perfect golf for 72 holes.
“Whoever deals with the bad holes and bad shots the best is probably also the guy who's going to be on top come Sunday. I stayed patient in the beginning of my back nine and made a couple of birdies on six and seven, and then I saved a nice par on nine, so it was a nice way to finish.
“It's always fun to see your name up there on the leaderboard and that's what we play for. I practice to put myself in that position and to have a chance at the weekend is always great and it's something I really cherish.”
England's Simon Dyson maintained his bid for a seventh European Tour title with a second round of 68.
The 36 year old held the clubhouse lead overnight thanks to completing a seven under par 65 shortly before an approaching thunderstorm forced the players off the course, with play later abandoned for the day.
South Africa's Trevor Fisher Junior was also seven under with two holes to play and although he bogeyed the first of those when play resumed this morning, a birdie on the 18th saw him join Dyson at the top of the leaderboard.
Both players were then soon back in action for round two and Dyson carded six birdies and two bogeys to join Spain's Carlos Del Moral in the clubhouse on 11 under par, one behind Madsen.
“It's always tough to follow a low score,” said Dyson, “because you always feel like you're losing ground on what you had the day before. I've been out here quite a while now and I knew there were plenty of chances to come today.
“I also knew that I was putting nicely, so I just stayed patient and hit good putts and eventually a few of them dropped.”
Del Moral, who won the Qualifying School at the end of last year to regain his playing privileges, had carded a flawless 65 and had not dropped a shot in 36 holes, despite the 7,964-yard Ernie Els-designed course being the longest in European Tour history.
“I played really good,” said the 28 year old. “I hit 17 greens today and at the last I misread the wind and pulled it a little.
“I got a very good up-and-down, because I was thinking that it would be such a shame to make the first bogey in two rounds there.
“It was nice to make that putt and hopefully I can make some more during the rest of the tournament, because that's where the real difference comes.”
South African trio Fisher, Darren Fichardt and Jake Roos were on ten under as they looked to claim a sixth win for home players from the eight European Tour events being staged in South Africa this season.
However, defending champion Dawie van der Walt - who beat Fichardt by two shots 12 months ago - had missed the halfway cut after rounds of 78 and 74.
