It ended up being a happy day for the 37-year-old as he was sitting high, and dry, at the top of the leaderboard after the second round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series event there.

Strydom shot a five-under-par 67 on Friday to go to 11-under for the tournament, leading Dylan Naidoo, who also shot a 67, by one stroke.

"When I woke up this morning, I thought it was going to be a very wet day and driving to the course, I kept wondering if I should turn back and get my rain shoes," Strydom said.

"In the end I didn't drive back and it was as wet as it can be when we started the round. But it actually turned into a lovely day in the end. It was overcast, but the wind largely stayed away, until it came up a bit again with five holes to go on the back nine."

Strydom, who began the day one stroke off the lead, made a quiet start to his round with just a single birdie on the front nine, coming at the par-five third hole.

It was actually a bogey - his only one of the day - at the par-four 11th that gave birth to an astonishing run of five successive birdies from the 12th that gave the Serengeti Golf Estate golfer the lead.

"I made sure I played good golf into the wind, but on the first nine I kept hitting all my putts short. Then on 11 I had a 15-foot birdie putt and I told my caddie there's no way I'm leaving it short. So I hit it eight foot past and then missed the putt coming back," Strydom explained.

"So I had a harsh little chat with myself walking to the next tee, I thought I must get something going now, take advantage of being downwind and give myself a cushion for the last hole when you're back into the wind."

Apart from Naidoo, the other golfers chasing Strydom on the final day will be Doug McGuigan (67) on eight-under-par and Hennie O'Kennedy (68) and Keenan Davidse (67) on seven-under.

Strydom has been leading many times before and he knows what he has to do.

"I'm just going to do the same as I'm doing at the moment. Try keep the ball in play and hit the greens. If I can make five putts, be five-under tomorrow then I'll be in with a good shout. I must just be patient," Strydom said.

SCORES:

133 - Ockie Strydom 66 67

134 - Dylan Naidoo 67 67

136 - Doug McGuigan 69 67

137 - Hennie O'Kennedy 69 68, Keenan Davidse 70 67

139 - Peter Karmis 69 70, Jake Redman 70 69, Heinrich Bruiners 65 74, Brooklin Bailey 67 72, Jaco Prinsloo 67 72, Luke Jerling 69 70, Riekus Nortje 72 67, Jayden Schaper 72 67, Dean O'Riley 69 70

140 - Ruan Korb 71 69, Bradley Bawden 72 68, Hennie Otto 70 70, James Kamte 71 69

141 - Christiaan Basson 73 68, Kevin Rhoderick 70 71, Dan Erickson 69 72

142 - Steve Surry 69 73, Herman Loubser 75 67, MJ Viljoen 73 69, Estiaan Conradie 71 71, Matthew Spacey 70 72

143 - Adam Breen 70 73, Nikhil Rama 70 73

144 - Kyle Barker 73 71, Callum Mowat 75 69, Pieter Moolman 70 74

145 - Jacques P de Villiers 72 73, Wynand Dingle 72 73, Jean Hugo 70 75, Sean Cronje 74 71, Jacques Blaauw 75 70, Sean Bradley 71 74, Maverick Faber 76 69, Wallie Coetsee 72 73

146 - Rupert Kaminski 76 70, Madalitso Muthiya 70 76, Richard Joubert 78 68, Luca Filippi 71 75, Therion Nel 72 74, Aneurin Gounden 72 74, Lyle Rowe 69 77, Danie Van Niekerk 71 75, Michael Kok 76 70, Clancy Waugh 74 72

Missed the cut:-

147 - Ryan Van Velzen 72 75

148 - Clinton Grobler 77 71, Dylan Mostert 71 77, JJ Senekal 73 75, James Pennington 76 72, Toto Thimba Jnr 69 79

149 - Rhys West 73 76, Louis Albertse 74 75, Makhetha Mazibuko 74 75

150 - Dwayne Basson 76 74, Stefan Wears-Taylor 74 76

151 - Mark Williams 76 75, Philip Geerts 75 76

152 - Stephen Ferreira 79 73, Hayden Griffiths 78 74, Paul Boshoff 77 75

153 - Samuel Simpson 81 72, Chris Swanepoel 82 71

154 - Kyle McClatchie 77 77, Michael Palmer 78 76

155 - Brody Harbinson 72 83, Fezekile Kana 79 76

156 - Mark Maart 82 74

157 - Jacquin Hess 78 79

159 - Shaahid Mahmed 76 83, Jordan Duminy 77 82, Joshua Seale 80 79

163 - Tumelo Molloyi 86 77

164 - Alphius Kelapile 81 83

167 - Mandla Dlamini Jnr 76 91

169 - Gareth Sargent 88 81

WDN - Alex Haindl 83 WDN, Jean-Paul Strydom 77 WDN

DSQ - CJ du Plessis 78 DSQ