Chris Paisley mastered the hot and humid conditions to set the clubhouse target on a weather-delayed first day of the Maybank Championship.
The Englishman has been in the form of his life since the turn of the year, claiming a maiden European Tour victory at the BMW SA Open Proudly hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni and following that up with two top fives on the Desert Swing.
He is 55 under for that stretch and a blemish-free 65 on Thursday got him to seven under and a one-shot lead over countryman David Horsey.
Another Englishman in Andrew Johnston, last year's runner-up David Lipksy, India's Arjun Atwal, South Korean Soomin Lee and French duo Alexander Levy and Romain Wattel all managed to get their rounds finished as they signed for 67s but many of the second wave were not so lucky.
Play was suspended at 3.40pm due to the threat of storms and an hour and 50 minutes was lost, meaning 40 players will have to complete their rounds on Friday.
Among those was Mike Lorenzo-Vera, the Frenchman siting six under with two holes to complete after an eagle on the fifth, birdies on the 11th, 14th, first, second and seventh, and a single bogey on the 12th.
Paisley had no such worries and was delighted to continue his purple patch having recorded five career top fives from 118 starts prior to the current campaign.
"It was great and nice to keep the form going," he said. "I just played really solid, hit it well off the tee so gave myself a lot of wedges and short irons into the greens which were really good and gave myself a lot of birdie chances, couldn’t have gone better.
"It's very hot and not much wind, so scoring wise it is quite easy but to keep your focus is quite difficult with how tiring the heat is but it is good fun."
Horsey set the early pace as he recovered from an opening bogey by birdieing the 11th and 12th, and eagling the 13th. Another dropped shot came on the 16th but he added further gains on the 17th, 18th and third.
It was great and nice to keep the form going - Chris Paisley
Paisley also started on the tenth and turned in 32 after birdies on the 11th, 13th, 17th and 18th. Another birdie on the second gave him a share of the lead and when he put an approach to six feet on the next, he was ahead on his own.
Johnston had his first top ten since September 2016 in Abu Dhabi a fortnight ago and after being one over after six holes he birdied the 16th, 17th and 18th and made an eagle on the first.
He made further birdies on the fourth and fifth to join the lead and when Horsey picked up a shot on the ninth to set the clubhouse target, there was a three-way tie.
Johnston's par putt on the ninth was just a roll short as he dropped back to five under and when Paisley put his approach to six feet, he led on his own.
Fabrizio Zanotti's spectacular birdie-eagle finish last year denied Lipsky the title but the American made sure he was in contention again, making birdies on the 13th, 15th, 17th, 18th, first and eighth before dropping a shot on his final hole.
Wattel made just five pars in a roller coaster of a round containing nine birdies and four bogeys, while Atwal made five gains with two dropped shots.
Lee had a single bogey on the 16th with birdies on the first, fifth, eighth, 14th, 17th and last.
Levy had just turned in 33 with birdies on the 11th, 16th and 18th when the hooter sounded but the delay did not prove a distraction as he picked up shots on the first, fourth and seventh before bogeying the ninth in the fading light.
There was then a group of 15 players in the clubhouse at four under including Zanotti and Ryder Cup Captain Thomas Bjørn.
Australian Todd Sinnott made the fourth hole-in-one of the season as he aced the fourth from 195 yards with a seven iron.
