Friday's rain left 77 players needing to finish round two on Saturday.
McIlroy had eight pars and birdied the ninth before bad light ended play, while world number one Martin Kaymer is in a share of fifth, three shots back.
Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and Masters winner Charl Schwartzel made the cut by one after second rounds of 75 and 71 respectively.
Schwartzel picked up two shots in his 11 third round holes to move up to two under but Oosthuizen double bogeyed the 11th, his second, and lies joint last.
McIlroy had begun to look frustrated by his failure to improve his score, missing a birdie putt from inside four feet on the seventh that was aimed two inches outside of the hole and stayed there.
But he rattled in a par putt from five feet at the eighth after his tree shot had trickled off the green and then rolled in a seven-footer for a birdie on the final green.
"I felt I probably should have been a couple better," the 21-year-old Northern Irishman said.
"I hit a couple of good shots that if they went a foot either way would have been great - the tee shot on eight and second shot on six - if they had just stayed.
"But it's ok. It's a solid start. I could have been two or three shots better off but it's obviously nice to hole that putt right at the end on the ninth and finish on a positive note. I've still got the lead but it is going to be a long day on Sunday.
"You've got to make every shot count out there. Twenty-seven holes in that heat is going to be tough. I've got myself into a good position going and that's all that counts."
Three players share second place, including Frenchman Gregory Bourdy, who had the best scoring of the third round.
Bourdy, who began seven shots off the lead, collected seven birdies in his opening 10 holes to join McIlroy at the top of the leaderboard before dropping a shot at the 13th.
Alexander Noren is also 10 under after an eventful eight holes that contained only two pars.
The Swedish player led the field after two birdies in his first three holes but then double bogeyed the 136-yard fourth when his tee shot finished short of the elevated green, his first chip rolled back down the hill virtually back to his feet and his third shot finished short in the rough.
McIlroy and Bourdy elected to complete the ninth hole after the horn sounded to signal the end of play, while Norden chose to leave his long putt until first thing in the morning.
Kaymer collected six birdies in his first 12 holes and will have the chance to set a challenging target on Sunday, when play will begin at 0740 local time in an attempt to finish the tournament on schedule.
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