Julian Suri starts strongly as Louis de Jager leads Tshwane Open

Julian Suri birdied his final two holes to get within a shot of the early lead after the opening round of the Tshwane Open.

Suri, the highest-ranked player in the field at Pretoria CC, produced a strong finish to close a six-under 65 and join Felipe Aguilar and home favourite Thomas Aiken in a share of second.

Louis de Jager fired a bogey-free 64 to grab the early advantage, with South African duo Shaun Norris and Combrinck Smit two strokes off the pace.

Scott Jamieson is in the group three back after an opening-round 67, while former Masters champion Danny Willett showed signs of improvement in his game with a one-under 70.

"It is nice to go off in the morning and then post a score like that," De Jager said. "I have been working quite hard on the game so it is nice to see some good results over the last few months."

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De Jager - beginning on the back nine - birdied the 11th and posted a hat-trick of gains from the 16th, before draining a 15-footer at the sixth and picking up shots on each of the last two holes.

Suri birdied three of his first five holes to move up the leaderboard, with Aiken posting five consecutive gains from the 11th and Aguilar firing four straight birdies around the turn to also get to six under.

English trio Sam Horsfield, Matthew Baldwin and Jonathan Thomson are part of the group on three under, with James Heath and Ryan Evans on two under alongside Scotland's David Drysdale.

Watch the Tshwane Open throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage continues on Friday from 8.30am on Sky Sports Golf.

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