Saturday 28 November 2015 12:54, UK
Christiaan Basson outshone his big-name South African counterparts to hold a three-shot lead after the opening round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship.
The world No 614 fired a bogey-free 64 to set the pace at Leopard Creek, where defending champion Branden Grace and former Open winner Louis Oosthuizen both made slow starts to the week.
After following a gain at the par-five second with back-to-back birdies from the fifth, Basson picked up a stroke at the eighth and added four more across the back nine and set the clubhouse target at eight under.
Three-time tournament winner Charl Schwartzel posted three gains in-a-row after the turn to move in to a three-way tie for second with one hole still to complete, before play was suspended just before 5.30pm local time due to the threat of lightning.
"For me, this is exceptional; I really played very well today," Basson said. "I was pleasantly surprised and I came in to this week in to good form, but you don't expect to be shooting that kind of round first off."
Pablo Martin Benavides had looked likely to threaten the South African's outright advantage earlier in the day when he moved two off the pace with three holes to play, only to go on and bogey his final three holes to close a three-under 69.
England's Jeff Inglis also had his sights on the lead when he opened his season with five consecutive birdies, but a double-bogey at the eighth and a series of blemishes on the back nine also leaves him five strokes off the pace.
Basson's closest challenge until Schwartzel's late birdie run came from Mark Williams, who finished with back-to-back gains, and Matt Ford, who picked up five shots in a six-hole stretch along the back nine.
"I didn't play my best but I scored well and probably got the most out of the round," Ford said. "I didn't start great so was relatively happy with level-par through nine holes.
"I always had some good rounds around this course at this tournament so it's nice to start off with a good score. Hopefully I'll put four good rounds together rather than just one or two."
Niclas Fasth marked his 500th European Tour appearance with a four-under 68 to join Joost Luiten and Benjamin Hebert, who fired a blemish-free second-nine 30, in a tie for fifth.
Last year's runner-up Oosthuizen, the highest ranked player in the field, briefly looked set to make a move towards the lead when he got to five under after 10 holes, but ended six shots off the pace.
Grace was a further stroke back after finding the water off the seventh tee, while recent European Tour Q-School graduate Paul Dunne is part of the group on one over.
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