Steven Jeppesen shares the lead with Trevor Fisher Jnr after the pair carded opening-round eight-under-par 63s at the Joburg Open on Thursday.
The Swede, who had an afternoon tee-off at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club, managed to match his rival's earlier effort in a round that included two eagles and five birdies on the west course.
Playing on the same 18 holes, South African Fisher Jnr. was the clubhouse leader for most of the day with an astonishing six birdies through his opening nine holes setting him on his way.
Michael Hoey from Northern Ireland is a shot back after his round of 64 in the co-sanctioned European and Sunshine Tour event, with Alfredo Garcia-Heredia, Edoardo Molinari, Patrik Sjoland, Andrew McLardy, Rafael Cabrera Bello and David Drysdale all on six under par - the latter two being the only players amongst the leaders to shoot bogey-free rounds.
Jeppesen, 24, who has never won on the European Tour with his best position being tied second at the Madeira Island Open in 2004, admitted afterwards that he was just thrilled with his start.
"It was a good round today and I'm very pleased," he said.
"It started well with that eagle on the second and then I had a good couple of opportunities on three and four.
"Before I went out there I saw that there were a lot of guys shooting good scores today on the first six holes."
Fisher Jnr. has previously won the FNB Botswana Open, Eskom Power Cup and Seekers Travel Pro-Am - all lesser-known Sunshine Tour events. He showed impressive form on the opening day and attributed his performance to a flying front nine.
He said: "It's always nice to have a good start. You open up with a little six-under and yeah, I started birdie, birdie which was good.
"I had nice rhythm today and I putted really well. I gave myself some nice opportunities. I was quite patient which is a good thing for me as I don't feel rushed, and maybe I can maintain it now for three more days."
Ballymoney-born Hoey, who carded a 75 in the opening round last year, said: "I am pretty happy, I played here last year and the weather wasn't great.
"It didn't help as I wasn't playing well at all.
"But today it was pretty hot so the ball was going longer and that helped. I got off to a good start as well."
Defending champion Richard Sterne will have to dig deep over the next three days if he is to defend his title after ending a disappointing opening round with a level-par 71.
He said: "I actually got off to a decent start, but felt a little tired and made really weak birdies on the back nine.
"Tomorrow I can hopefully do something good and get back into it. It's a strange game and you never know what you are going to get really."
Another strong contender is two-time major winner Retief Goosen, who ended his opening day with a one-under 70, two shots worse off than 2007 champion Ariel Canete of Argentina, while Englishman Chris Wood finished with a two-under 69.
The first two rounds of the tournament are taking place on both the east and west courses after which the last two rounds will finish on the east.
Collated first round scores
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):
63 Steven Jeppesen (Swe), Trevor Fisher Jnr (Rsa)
64 Michael Hoey
65 Patrik Sjoland (Swe), David Drysdale, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Andrew McLardy (Rsa)
66 Peter Kaensche (Nor), Jan Are Larsen (Nor), Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Michele Reale (Ita), Martin Maritz (Rsa)
67 David Carter, Hennie Otto (Rsa), Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Brett Liddle (Rsa), Jean Hugo (Rsa), Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa), Danny Willett, Omar Sandys (Rsa), James Morrison, Alexandre Rocha (Bra), Carl Suneson (Spa), Oliver Bekker (Rsa), Alessandro Tadini (Ita), Taco Remkes (Ned), Justin Walters (Rsa), James Ruth
68 Divan Van Den Heever (Rsa), Garth Mulroy (Rsa), Adilson Da Silva (Bra), Anders Schmidt Hansen (Den), Dion Fourie (Rsa), Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa), Charl Coetzee (Rsa), Brandon Pieters (Rsa), Martin Wiegele (Aut), Henrik Nystrom (Swe), Richie Ramsay, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Bobby Lincoln (Rsa), Darren Fichardt (Rsa), Kasper linnet Jorgensen (Den), David Dixon, Callie Swart (Rsa), Keith Horne (Rsa), Ariel Canete (Arg), Christopher Doak
69 Carlos Del Moral (Spa), Steve Lewton, Mikko Korhonen (Fin), Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), John E Morgan, Ryan Thompson (Rsa), Federico Colombo (Ita), Tyrone Van Aswegen (Rsa), Deane Pappas (Rsa), Prinavin Nelson (Rsa), Chris Wood, Richard McEvoy, Andrew Curlewis (Rsa), Jake Roos (Rsa), Carlos Rodiles (Spa), Gary Lockerbie, Phillip Archer, Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Andrew Wilson (Rsa), Wes Heffernan (Can), Nic Henning (Rsa), Doug McGuigan, Grant Veenstra (Rsa), Kevin Stone (Rsa), Joel Sjoholm (Swe), Klas Eriksson (Swe), Vaughn Groenewald (Rsa), David Hewan (Rsa), Desvonde Botes (Rsa), Henk Alberts (Rsa), Joakim Haeggman (Swe), Chris Williams (Rsa), James Kamte (Rsa)
70 Chris Gane, Branden Grace (Rsa), Clodomiro Carranza (Arg), Andre Bossert (Swi), Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa), Warren Abery (Rsa), Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa), Tyrone Mordt (Rsa), Peter Whiteford, Estanislao Goya (Arg), Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Tc Charamba (Zim), Ryan Cairns (Zim), Michiel Bothma (Rsa), Dominique Nouailhac (Fra), Grant Muller (Rsa), Mark f Haastrup (Den), Christiaan Basson (Rsa), Retief Goosen (Rsa), Edrich Jansen (Rsa), Dylan Frittelli (Rsa), Lorenzo Gagli (Ita), Ruan Botha (Rsa), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), Lindani Ndwandwe (Rsa)
71 Merrick Bremner (Rsa), Michael Mcgeady, James Kingston (Rsa), Anders Hansen (Den), Liam Bond, Gerhard Trytsman (Rsa), Ockie Strydom (Rsa), Iain Pyman, Dale Marmion, Jacques Blaauw (Rsa), Alex Haindl (Rsa), Steve Basson (Rsa), Garry Houston, Alan McLean, Morne Buys (Rsa), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Dawie Van der Walt (Rsa), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Marcus Higley, Nico Van Rensburg (Rsa), Richard Sterne (Rsa)
72 Jonathan Caldwell, John Mellor, Leif Westerberg (Swe), Graham De laet (Can), Noel Fox, Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice), David Frost (Rsa), Johan Etsebeth (Rsa), Anthony Snobeck (Fra), Wil Besseling (Ned), Thabang Simon (Rsa), Antti Ahokas (Fin), Cameron Johnston (Rsa), Bernd Wiesberger (Aut), Sam Little, Anthony Grenier (Fra), Anton Haig (Rsa), Keenan Davidse (Rsa), Andre Cruse (Rsa), Marc Cayeux (Zim), Sion Bebb, Gary Clark, Rolf Muntz (Ned), Sam Walker, Wallie Coetsee (Rsa)
73 Neil Cheetham, Steven O'Hara, Simon Griffiths, Gregory Molteni (Ita), Johan De buisson (Rsa), Andrew McArthur, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), Roland Steiner (Aut), Mark Murless (Rsa), Darryn Lloyd (Rsa), Marc Farry (Fra), Richard Bland, Jaco Ahlers (Rsa), Stuart Manley, Bradley Davison (Rsa), Inder Van Weerelt (Ned), Ryan Tipping (Rsa)
74 Reggie Adams (Rsa), Andrew Butterfield, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa), Eugene Marugi (Rsa), Josh Cunliffe (Rsa), Julien Guerrier (Fra), Heinrich Bruiners (Rsa), Johan Wahlqvist (Swe), Bradford Vaughan (Rsa), Louis De jager (Rsa), Callum Macaulay, Ross Wellington (Rsa), Louis Moolman (Rsa), Teboho Sefatsa(Rsa), Michael Curtis (Zim), Van Phillips
75 Alphuis Kelapile (Rsa), Jonathan Lomas, Derik Ferreira (Rsa), Riaan De bruyn(Rsa), Steve Van Vuuren (Rsa)
76 Titch Moore (Rsa), Ben Evans, Andre Ferreira (Rsa), Pg Van zyl (Rsa), Lars Brovold (Nor), Javier Colomo (Spa), Rafael Echenique (Arg)
77 Stuart Davis, Des Terblanche (Rsa), Neil Schietekat (Rsa)
78 Dean Lambert (Rsa), Simon Wakefield, Mohammed Tayob (Rsa)
79 David Griffiths
80 Ake Nilsson (Rsa), Emmanuel Masoliedze (Rsa)
82 Musolo Nethunzwi (Rsa)
84 John Bele (Rsa)
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