Two eagles and eight birdies, meaning successive bogeys on the 9th and 10th holes barely mattered, saw Blaauw go to the 18th tee with the legendary 59 in his sights. But after a good drive, he misjudged the wind and his second shot was on-target but way short.

So Blaauw ended with a double-bogey six, but he was still two ahead of four golfers who shot excellent 64s – Jordan Duminy, Neil Schietekat, Keenan Davidse and Madalitso Muthiya.

“On the last hole, I knew walking up the fairway that a birdie would give me a 59. But I didn’t feel under any pressure and I hit a good second shot but it was just way short,” Blaauw said.

“I played for nine metres past the hole but I was about 20 yards short, so we must have misjudged the wind. But it was good fun and I obviously played some unbelievable golf.

“It all started with me holing out for eagle on the second hole from 46 yards, and then a nice birdie at three meant I went on a roll, I just didn’t miss a shot.

“I played some unbelievable irons into the greens, birdieing three of the par-threes, and my tee-shot on the eighth was my shot of the day – the flag was on the left by the water and I hit an eight-iron 174 yards to three feet,” Blaauw said.

The 36-year-old, who has won four times on the Sunshine Tour, missed his last two cuts, so Wednesday’s phenomenal round marked a spectacular return to form.

“It’s very weird, I actually felt before my round that my luck was going to turn. I feel I’ve been playing good golf, but I just couldn’t get it all together in a round,” Blaauw said.

“With my coach Eugene Schwartz, we’ve been working on getting my body moving better. It’s also about getting sharp around the greens, you need those up-and-downs and I did not miss many today.”

Schietekat was in the same three-ball as Blaauw and was also on fire on Wednesday. He was seven-under through 15 holes, but then he double-bogeyed the par-five 16th. He did well to bounce back from that shock, his first dropped shots of the day, and birdied the par-three 17th to ensure he joined the four-way tie for second.

And there are another nine golfers tied for sixth after shooting five-under-par 65s, including veteran Jaco van Zyl, who won two weeks ago up the coast at Selborne.

SCORES:

62 - Jacques Blaauw

64 - Jordan Duminy, Neil Schietekat, Keenan Davidse, Madalitso Muthiya

65 - Pieter Moolman, Heinrich Bruiners, Keelan van Wyk, Luke Brown, Jaco Van Zyl, Paul Boshoff, Harry Konig, MJ Viljoen, Kyle Barker

66 - Franklin Manchest, Jaco Ahlers, Casey Jarvis, Ryan Van Velzen, Michael Kok, Martin Vorster, CJ du Plessis, Luke Jerling

67 - Jacquin Hess, Wynand Dingle, Christiaan Burke, Joe Long, Fredrik From, Brody Harbinson

68 - Michael Hollick, Stephen Ferreira, Luca Filippi, Merrick Bremner, Rhys West, Ockie Strydom, Anthony Michael, Dwayne Basson, Wallie Coetsee, Hennie O'Kennedy, Jovan Rebula

69 - Steven Le Roux, Adam Breen, Jake Redman, Alex Haindl, Jean-Paul Strydom, Sean Bradley, Rourke van der Spuy, Louis Albertse, Jason Smith, Stefan Wears-Taylor, Martin Rohwer, Herman Loubser, Matthew Spacey, Combrinck Smit, Colin Nel

70 - Basil Wright Jr, Steve Surry, Richard Joubert, Clinton Grobler, Keagan Thomas, Brooklin Bailey, Malcolm Mitchell, Kevin Rhoderick, Erhard Lambrechts

71 - Musiwalo Nethunzwi, Sentanio Minnie, Sean Cronje, Doug McGuigan, James Pennington, Jacques P de Villiers, Maverick Faber, Therion Nel, Nikhil Rama, Makhetha Mazibuko, Bradley Bawden, Gerard du Plooy, Leon Vorster, Vaughn van Deventer, Clancy Waugh, Andre De Decker, Dylan Naidoo, Quintin Wilsnach

72 - Kyle McClatchie, Thanda Mavundla, Jared Harvey, Clayton Mansfield, Aneurin Gounden, Dean O'Riley, Lindani Ndwandwe

73 - Mutahi Kibugu, Ruan de Smidt, Mandla Dlamini Jnr, Joshua Seale

74 - Slenda Sithebe, Hayden Griffiths, Siyanda Mwandla, Callum Mowat, Henning du Plooy

75 - Evance Vukeya, SP Mthethwa, Divan van den Heever

76 - Danie Van Niekerk, Pierre Pellegrin, Adriel Poonan

77 - Matthew Rushton

78 - Tumelo Molloyi

80 - Lwazi Gqira