A blistering start helped Jaco Van Zyl to a one-shot lead at the turn before the second round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City was delayed due to the threat of lightning.
The South African was looking to become the first home challenger to win at Gary Player Country Club since Trevor Immelman in 2007 and a birdie-eagle start saw him move clear of playing partner Henrik Stenson in the early stages on Friday.
But he dropped a shot on the fourth to turn in 34 at eight under as American Robert Streb emerged as his nearest rival thanks to two birdies and an eagle in his first 11 holes.
Three bogeys in a row from the sixth saw Stenson sit a further shot back at six under alongside Marc Leishman.
The final group had played their second shots to the par five tenth when the horn sounded to bring the players off the course at 1429 local time.
Stenson and Van Zyl both birdied the first and while the Swede repeated the trick at the next, Van Zyl put his approach close and made an eagle to take a one-shot lead.
A dropped shot on the fourth had Stenson back level and, after Van Zyl saw his fast birdie putt hit the hole and bounce up and out on the fifth, the 2013 Race to Dubai winner had the lead on his own courtesy of a birdie.
But a poor approach on the sixth left Stenson playing a chip while stood in a bunker and he could only advance the ball a few feet, dropping a shot, and the lead was once again shared at eight under.
That was his first bogey of the week but the second was not long coming on the next and once again Van Zyl was out in front on his own.
The 36 year old made an excellent par save on the eighth, holing a 15-foot putt after finding the sand off the tee and, when Stenson made it three bogeys in a row after missing the green himself, the lead was two shots.
Streb had been making steady progress and turned in 34 after birdies at the sixth and eighth but he made the green in two on the tenth and holed a lengthy putt to leap to seven under and cut the lead to one.
Leishman turned in 34 to sit alongside Stenson after three birdies and a bogey in his first 11 holes.
The Australian rolled in a 25-footer on the second for birdie but gave the shot back on the fourth before making a second gain of the day on the next. He had played a spectacular shot from the side of a cart path on the first on day one, and on Friday he was playing off a path on the par five ninth to get on in two and make an unlikely birdie.
Last year's runner-up Ross Fisher, who has finished in the top five on all three of his visits to Sun City, was then alone in fifth at five under after three birdies and a bogey in 11 holes.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat had made a brilliant start with three birdies but dropped shots at the fifth and seventh before a birdie at the 13th got him to four under.
Thomas Aiken, Keegan Bradley, Branden Grace, Emiliano Grillo, Miguel Angel Jiménez and Chris Wood were all in the group at three under alongside Scott Piercy who had eagles on the second and tenth.
Defending champion Danny Willett was playing in the final group with Stenson and Van Zyl but he endured a nightmare front nine, finding the water on the second and the trees on the third to go bogey-double-bogey and drop to two under.
The Englishman appeared to be in severe discomfort with his back, at one point laying on the ground to stretch, and further bogeys followed on the fifth and seventh before a welcome birdie on the ninth saw him turn in 40.
