It took his best-ever round in tournament play to break open the Vodacom Championship field on Friday and see Hennie Otto to a course-record 11-under-par 61 and the halfway lead.

“I played really well. I didn’t hit one bunker today, and that makes a difference on this course.”

What’s also made a difference is Otto’s new approach to his game, and life. Still dogged by injury, Otto does not practice and instead only hits balls to warm up before a tournament.

“I went to the physio before the round because something was messed up in my back again,” he said.

And then there’s the turnaround in his life, sparked by a rebirth of his Christian faith.

“It’s a road I’m walking at the moment. I have a gift, and I’ve realised that,” he said, as he evaluated an astonishing round.

He has carded 63 four times, and when he made an inauspicious start with a bogey on two, it didn’t seem likely that he would be erasing Richard Fulford’s 2005 Pretoria Country Club course record of 63.

But he birdied four, and then had a brilliant run of three birdies and an eagle to turn in five-under 31 to be one off the pace set by Jbe’ Kruger who had finished at 13-under through halfway.

His second nine started with no indication of the brilliance that lay ahead either as he made pars on 10 and 11.

But he birdied 12, made par on 13 and then, when he nearly holed out on 14, he began a run of five birdies on the way home. And he missed making eagle on 18 by a hair’s breadth, too as his 20-footer for eagle on 18 took a tiny bobble and just missed.

“If I’d made that putt on the last, it would’ve been a perfect round,” said Otto.

His round propelled him to a five stroke lead over Kruger and playing partner Thomas Aiken, as well as the best ever 36-hole score on the Sunshine Tour: His 126 halfway total is better than the 2007 mark of 127 set by Jean Hugo in the Samsung Royal Swazi Sun Open in 2008.

There was a pair of 65s during the second round, but they went unnoticed as Otto showed just how good he can be: Grant Veenstra and James Kamte each made substantial climbs up the leaderboard with their seven-under rounds – Veenstra to a share of 10th and Kamte to 15th.

But Veenstra finds himself a staggering nine shots behind Otto, and Kamte 11.

Even Aiken, who drew level with Kruger with a six-under 66 – the same as Kruger and six other players in the field – is almost aghast at finding himself so far off the lead despite rounds of seven-under and six-under.

Doug McGuigan finds himself in fourth on 12-under at halfway after his second consecutive 66, while Tjaart van der Walt, first-round leader Branden Grace and Anton Haig share fifth on 11-under.

And Otto is not discounting being chased down: “Even 10 shots is not enough on this course, and with so many players playing well. It will be fun on the weekend, though.”