Early riser Stenson in prime position to win

Since the start of last month the 36-year-old former Ryder Cup star has played in Scotland, Portugal, America, China, America again and now South Africa.

But his pursuit of a first win since May 2009 could soon be over after superb rounds of 66 and 65 put him 13 under par at halfway.

When play was suspended because of lightning, fellow Swede Magnus Carlsson (67) shared second spot on nine under with first-round leader Merrick Bremner, who still had four holes of his second round to play.

Stenson, 19th at the PGA Tour’s season-ending event in Florida on Sunday, did not land in Johannesburg until Tuesday and has been battling jetlag. “I went to bed at midnight last night and woke up at 1.40am – I guess the body thought it was a bit of an afternoon kip,” he said. “I slept another couple of hours, so I don’t know what time of day it is really.”

After something of a shaky warm-up session he got going again with five birdies in seven holes around the turn and then produced a majestic eagle on the 576-yard eighth, his penultimate hole of the day.

The big-hitter needed only a drive and six-iron to find the island green - even though it was into the wind – and made an eight-foot putt. I counted eight drives on the course yesterday and that’s probably as many as I hit the entire 2011 season.

“It’s nice to get the feel back with the driver and get a bit of confidence.

“On this course, if you can fly it 280 or 290 metres, then you can take a lot of bunkers out of play and end up going in with a gap wedge instead of a seven-iron.”

Sheffield’s Neil Cheetham looks set to miss the cut after successive rounds of 74.