Charl Schwartzel made a birdie on the last to reduce the gap to leader Christiaan Basson to two shots as the weather-delayed first round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship was completed on Friday morning.
Basson had fired a brilliant opening 64 early on day one to set the target at eight under and it looked like he would take a three-shot lead into round two with fellow morning starters Matt Ford and Mark Williams emerging as the closest challengers.
Schwartzel has a brilliant record at Leopard Creek Country Club with three wins and four runners-up finishes but was four shots off the lead as he stood on the 14th tee on Thursday.
A run of three birdies was to follow before the South African's momentum was halted as the horn sounded to end play due to dangerous weather conditions as he was playing the 18th.
But he returned on Friday morning to make it four birdies in his closing five holes and emerge as Basson's closest rival at the end of the opening round.
Basson's previous best European Tour finish in 30 events was a tie for tenth at The South African Open Championship Hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni in the 2014 season but he made an excellent start in his attempts to better that on Thursday.
The 33 year old made birdies on the second, fifth, sixth and eighth to turn in 31 and four more followed on the 11th, 13th, 14th and 16th to move him to the summit.
"I played very well today, I was pleasantly surprised," he said after completing his first round. "I was coming into this week with good form but you can't expect that good a round first off
"Hopefully I can keep playing the way I'm playing, golf is a funny game, you never know what is going to happen.
"We've just found something that I was doing wrong coming into Cape Town and that's just one swing thought that has kind of got me on track.
"It's not a big thing, it's a basic thing but it's made all the difference the last two weeks and I'm quite happy."
Williams eagled the par four fourth and then picked up further shots on the sixth and seventh before a bogey on the eighth saw him turn in 32. Another bogey followed on the tenth but four birdies in his closing six holes, including the last two, got him to five under.
Englishman Ford, who secured his playing privileges with an impressive tie for seventh at the UBS Hong Kong Open, was also at that mark after an eagle, five birdies and two bogeys in his 67.
There was then a group of eight players at four under, including Richard Sterne who, like Schwartzel, had to finish his round on Friday morning and he birdied the last to shoot a 68.
That left him alongside Niclas Fasth, Vaughn Groenewald, Benjamin Hebert, Joost Luiten, Jean-Paul Strydom, Ryan Tipping and Borja Virto Astudillo.
Defending champion Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen were among the headliners in the field but they got their weeks off to a quiet start in Malelane.
Oosthuizen has enjoyed a mixed bag at this event down the years, with two runners-up finishes and six missed cuts in 11 appearances, and he continued that theme with an opening 70.
The 2010 Open Championship winner started on the tenth and turned in 33 with birdies on the 12th, 13th, 15th and 18th. Another birdie followed on the first but a bogey on the second and a double-bogey on the third saw him drop back.
A shot was gained on the sixth but then given straight back on the seventh to leave Oosthuizen at two under, one shot clear of playing partner Grace.
Grace, who finished third in The Race to Dubai last week, turned in 37 after a double-bogey on the 14th before gains on the first and fourth but he gave a shot back after finding the water off the seventh tee.
