Norris leads, Cockerill makes cut at windy South African Open..rd3 in progress

 DP World Tour : Investec South African Open....

Home favourite Shaun Norris made 12 birdies and no bogeys in 27 holes on Friday to lead by one shot when the second round of the Investec South African Open Championship was suspended due to darkness at 18.21 local time.

After heavy rain and the mammoth effort to get the course playable caused a three-hour delay to the start of the tournament on Thursday, Norris was among the large number of players who had to return to the course early on day two to finish off their opening rounds.

He began the day on two under after nine holes before adding four birdies on the back nine to sign for a flawless first-round 66.

And Norris, who is looking to win another big title on home soil after getting his second DP World Tour victory at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in December, made eight more birdies in a spotless second round to set the clubhouse target at -14 and stay bogey-free for the tournament.

He said: "It was a nice build-up from this morning. I finished off nicely from the morning round and carried on this afternoon.

"I'm hitting the ball nicely so I'm putting myself in good positions, just looking at birdies all the time. And the short game has been strong.

"So I'm looking forward to the next couple of days.

"Any National Open is the most important to anybody so to stamp my name on that trophy would be an absolute blessing."

Countryman Dylan Naidoo was Norris' nearest challenger on -13 after his second-round 61 but plenty of afternoon starters still have an opportunity to close the gap when round two resumes at 07.30 on Saturday, including Sam Bairstow who sits on 11 under with ten holes to go.

Friday will live long in the memory of Dale Whitnell after he sensationally made two holes-in-one in his second round. The Englishman aced the par-three second and 12th in a remarkable -9 63 which included a further eagle, seven birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey.

edit**** Meanwhile at the other end of the leaderboard Canada's Aaron Cockerill with a battling 5 birdies and 4 bogey's for -1 71 just made the cut at -4 by a shot with the weekend ahead to improve.

Weather While it is not a howling gale the wind has been described as tricky by the players, breezy by the forecast, and there are showers in and around the area.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)