Len Mattiace and Michael Jonzon shared the lead on seven-under-par after the opening round at the Alfred Dunhill Championship.
The pair shot 65s to lead by one from Lee Westwood, Robert Rock, Rafael Cabrera Bello and Johan Edfors - with three players on five under and 14, including 2004 champion Charl Schwartzel, three off the pace.
Swede Jonzon was especially impressive at the Leopard Creek Golf Club, with two birdies and an eagle in his opening four holes giving him a flying start.
Another birdie on the par-four sixth helped him complete the front nine in 30 - the lowest of the day - and he consolidated that performance with a 35 on the back nine to complete a bogey-free round.
"I played really, really well - especially my shots into the green where I found my speed and the lines on the greens," he said.
"It was just a day when you play really well. The weather in the afternoon was also nice. The wind died down and made it quite easy.
"It's just sometimes that days like these happen. It's when you don't think about it when it does happen."
American Mattiace, who lost a play-off to Mike Weir at the Masters in 2003, added: "I really wanted to get off to a good start today.
"I played in a tournament last week in Buenos Aires in Argentina and I really didn't get off to a good start.
"So I wanted to go around and shoot a really low score and I really mapped it out and I stuck pretty well to what I thought I should do.
"I really challenged myself today. I don't know how the other scores look. I'm sure there are going to be some pretty low ones because of the greens being soft."
Britons Westwood and Rock set the earlier pace, the world number 10 looking solid during a round that included six birdies.
He said: "I played very solidly.
"I could have got off to a faster start; I missed a couple of good chances at my first two holes - but I drove the ball well.
"Distance control with the irons was good: I rolled quite a few decent putts in, and my short game was good.
"If you played well today on the golf course, you got what you deserved. There were no tricks to it."
Rock has good memories of the tournament, after finishing 14th and 17th in the last two years, and he is hoping to improve even further this time on what he described as "one of the best courses in the world".
"Any tournament I've played in South Africa over the past few years, I've played all right," he remembered.
"I don't really know why that is. But I think it's just early in the calendar, and you're keen to get off to a decent start.
"I think the course here is something that I really like, so I'm always a little more excited than normal to come and play. That helps a little bit.
"I've had two top-20 finishes so far here, and to go a little better will be nice. But there's a long way to go yet.
"It's going to be really hot tomorrow and it might be a bit more hard work."
Collated first round scores in the Alfred Dunhill Championship, Leopard Creek GC, Mpumalanga, South Africa
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
65 Len Mattiace (USA), Michael Jonzon (Swe)
66 Robert Rock, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Lee Westwood, Johan Edfors (Swe)
67 John E Morgan, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa)
68 Neil Cheetham, Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Tyrone Mordt (Rsa), Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Garth Mulroy (Rsa), Alan McLean, Pelle Edberg (Swe), David Lynn, Seve Benson, Marc Cayeux (Zim), Gary Lockerbie, Warren Abery (Rsa), Bernd Wiesberger (Aut), Richard Sterne (Rsa)
69 Titch Moore (Rsa), Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), Chris Wood, Hennie Otto (Rsa), Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Robert Dinwiddie, Michiel Bothma (Rsa), Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), Willie Van Der Merwe (Rsa), Oskar Henningsson (Swe)
70 Jonathan Caldwell, Adilson Da Silva (Bra), Branden Grace (Rsa), Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa), Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), Tyrone Van Aswegen (Rsa), Mark Murless (Rsa), Michael Hoey, Alex Haindl (Rsa), Prinavin Nelson (Rsa), Brett Liddle (Rsa), Estanislao Goya (Arg), Andrew Coltart, Scott Drummond, Tc Charamba (Zim), George Coetzee (Rsa), David Dixon, Inder Van Weerelt (Ned), Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Keith Horne (Rsa), Ross McGowan
71 Carlos Del Moral (Spa), Damien McGrane, Euan Little, Simon Dyson, Bradford Vaughan (Rsa), Mohammed Tayob (Rsa), Wil Besseling (Ned), Rory McIlroy, Iain Pyman, Antti Ahokas (Fin), Jaco Ahlers (Rsa), Joakim Haeggman (Swe), Andrew Curlewis (Rsa), Albert Pistorius (Rsa), Darren Fichardt (Rsa), Alexandre Rocha (Bra), David Drysdale, Sam Walker, Marcus Higley, Richard Finch, Chris Williams (Rsa), Raveloarison Johary (Mg), James Kamte (Rsa), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe)
72 Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Jamie Little, Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Shaun Norris (Rsa), Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice), Danny Willett, Doug McGuigan, Callum Macaulay, Thabang Simon (Rsa), Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa), Federico Colombo (Ita), Teboho Sefatsa (Rsa), Trevor Fisher Jnr (Rsa), Desvonde Botes (Rsa), Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa), Garry Houston, Gareth Maybin, David Horsey, Jake Roos (Rsa), Andre Cruse (Rsa), Taco Remkes (Ned), Justin Walters (Rsa)
73 Jacques Blaauw (Rsa), Reggie Adams (Rsa), Steve Basson (Rsa), James Kingston (Rsa), Jean Hugo (Rsa), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Alessandro Tadini (Ita), Dean Lambert (Rsa), Dion Fourie (Rsa), Mark Foster, Neil Schietekat (Rsa), Alan Michell (Rsa), Steve Van Vuuren (Rsa), Christopher Doak
74 Sion Bebb, John Mellor, Louis Moolman (Rsa), Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Klas Eriksson (Swe), Rossouw Loubser (Rsa), Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Atti Schwartzel (Rsa), Vaughn Groenewald (Rsa)
75 Merrick Bremner (Rsa), Stuart Davis, Ake Nilsson (Rsa), Paul Waring, Stuart Manley, Grant Veenstra (Rsa), Gary Clark, Marco Ruiz (Par), Grant Muller (Rsa), Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa), Deane Pappas (Rsa)
76 Richie Ramsay, Ross Wellington (Rsa), Divan Van Den Heever (Rsa), Wallie Coetsee (Rsa), Gary Murphy, Nic Henning (Rsa), Jonathan Lomas
77 Jeremy Kavanagh, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe)
78 Brandon Pieters (Rsa), Henrik Nystrom (Swe), Ryan Tipping (Rsa), Omar Sandys (Rsa), Brenden Pappas (Rsa), Lindani Ndwandwe (Rsa)
79 Michael Dreyer (Rsa)
80 Lee Slattery, Anton Haig (Rsa), Anthony Snobeck (Fra)
81 Jbe Kruger (Rsa)
82 Tota Thimba jnr (Rsa), Ariel Canete (Arg)
84 Lorenzo null Gagli (Ita)
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