Dane Lucas Bjerregaard made his way to the top of the Investec Cup leaderboard with a seven under par 65 to lead after the first round.
The European Tour Member carded eight birdies and a lone bogey around Millvale Private Retreat to take a two stroke lead over Jacques Blaauw, with Joburg Open champion George Coetzee and Jbe' Kruger a further shot back on four under.
"I first came to South Africa in October last year, and I'm loving it," said Bjerregaard, who is one of two Danes in the field - the other is South African Open champion Morten Ørum Madsen.
Their compatriot Thomas Björn also enjoyed success in South Africa when he won the Nedbank Golf Challenge at the start of the season.
Bjerregaard is one of six European Tour players who have made it into the Investec Cup, which is the culmination of a year-long quest for points in all the regular-season Sunshine Tour events.
He started his round on the back nine at Millvale, and was quickly into his stride with birdies at the 11th, 12th and 14th.
"I got away with a couple of poor tee shots today, but I played really well and made a couple of good putts," he said.
"I hit a couple of really good irons today, and a got a couple of good par putts to keep the round going.
"We got perfect conditions today. I was out first and the greens were so pure. They're some of the best greens I've ever played on. So it really set up to make a couple of putts. And with no wind, except a little bit of a breeze swirling in the trees towards the end, it was set up for a perfect day.”
Bjerregaard has put himself in a good position as the elite 30-man field goes in chase of the lion's share of the 10,000,000 rand bonus pool.
The leading points scorer going into the tournament, England’s Ross Fisher, opened with a five over par 77.
Hennie Otto was in second after the Tshwane Open and he carded a 73. Thomas Aiken was third and signed for a 74, while Madsen was fourth and, like Aiken, was two over for his opening round.
