Nic Henning equalled a course record as he ended day one of the Joburg Open a stroke clear of his nearest challengers.
Desvonde Botes' benchmark of 62 had come under threat earlier in the day, but Henning produced the lowest front nine of the European Tour so far this season to level his compatriot's record for the West Course at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club.
The 45-year-old year old gained four shots on the first three holes, and had posted three more birdies by the midway point.
Henning failed to carry his momentum into the back nine and was unable to surpass Botes' record, but a solid display saw him finish with a score of nine under.
Titch Moore, Thomas Pieters and Tjaart van der Walt, are tied for second on eight under, after the former came one shot short of equalling Henning's front-nine achievement.
Pieters, meanwhile, suffered two bogeys on his last three holes, but is delighted to have made such a positive start.
"It was a good day and a good start," said Pieters. "You need to make a good score on this course, so I'm happy and hopefully we'll have more of the same tomorrow."
Dean Burmester, Garth Mulroy and Jason Scrivener are all a stroke further back, while Wallie Coetsee and Sam Hutsby were the top performers on the more difficult East Course on six under.
"I think it's a good draw to make a decent score on this course to try to settle in," said Hutsby. "I've missed my last six cuts, so I've been really poor this year, but I'm pretty confident I can make the weekend now and try to push on."
The 210-man field is split between the West and East courses for the first two rounds before convening on the latter for the weekend.