Ockie Strydom hailed a "plenty fun" day at the Investec South African Open Championship after shooting a course-record 63 at Blair Atholl Golf & Equestrian Estate.
Strydom's nine-under-par round contained two separate runs of three consecutive birdies and left him 11 under for the tournament, two off the lead held by fellow home player Thriston Lawrence on a weather-affected second day.
"It was plenty fun," said Strydom. "It was pleasant to be out there hitting it as good as I can.
"Hitting in the right spaces, hitting it on the green, getting the yardages worked out to perfection, all the tough flags we played safe to it, and made a few putts - that's all."
Strydom got his round into gear with a birdie at the second hole, and three in a row from the fifth took him to the turn in 31 strokes.
Another hat-trick from the 11th to the 13th built further momentum and he finished his bogey-free round with two more birdies to set a new record, a day after Lawrence equalled his own previous mark of 64.
A second and final stoppage for the threat of lightning took the players off the course before the chasing pack could make any further inroads, while Strydom revealed the wind had also been an issue on a record long DP World Tour course measuring 8,161 yards.
"I'm actually really relieved that I'm done, because the wind's coming up a bit," he said.
"On I think the 14th yesterday, we had driver-wedge, and with the gust that came in I hit driver-five-iron today so it was a big difference."
"Bogey-free on Blair Atholl - I don't know how long this golf course is but my legs are feeling it.
"But I'm happy with it, finished off with a nice birdie on the last just to make it a bit better."
Asked what it would mean to win his home Open, Strydom added: "Quite a bit, quite a bit.
"It's one of those that everyone wants to win but we'll just see what happens in the next two days."
