Tom McKibbin and Conor Purcell both made contrasting starts to the opening round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek.
McKibbin carded a solid three-under-par round of 69 as he looks to end a memorable year with a second DP World Tour title.
The Holywood man is five shots off the pace set by Andy Sullivan who skipped around in eight-under-par 64 as he hunts a third title in South Africa.
Meanwhile, it was a tough learning curve for Purcell who fell to a three-over 75 on his first start as a fully fledged DP World Tour member.
Starting from the tenth tee on Thursday morning, Englishman Sullivan made four birdies on his front nine before adding four more on the way home, producing some nice par saves along the way to keep his card clean.
That saw him set the early clubhouse target at eight under par and none of the later starters were able to catch him in the blistering afternoon heat.
Behind Sullivan in a three-way tie for second were countryman Alex Fitzpatrick, home favourite Casey Jarvis and Swede Marcus Kinhult – who shot the best score of the afternoon – on seven under.
South Africa is a home from home for Sullivan, having secured his first two DP World Tour victories in the country in 2015.
And he has played well there recently too, finishing in a tie for 14th in tricky conditions at last week’s Nedbank Golf Challenge.
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