Day one digest: 2022 MyGolfLife Open hosted by Pecanwood

Everything you need to know from day one in South Africa.

There was a leading logjam, the home favourites were feeling comfortable, Nacho had a birdie blitz and three was the magic number for Richard on day one of the 2022 MyGolfLife Open hosted by Pecanwood.

Here is everything you need to know from Thursday at Pecanwood Golf and Country Club.

Tight at the top

When home favourite Hennie du Plessis finished birdie-birdie-birdie to get to ten under and set the morning target, it looked like we had our solo first-round leader. But first Nacho Elvira, then Tristen Strydom and then Ross Fisher all joined him to make it a four-way tie at the top. With 49 players within five and 126 under par, it's safe to say the next 54 holes are going to be a shootout for the title.

Home comforts for Hennie

Du Plessis revealed his commute this week was a "one minute drive in a buggy" and he certainly looked at home on Thursday. The South African carded his lowest DP World Tour round by three shots and he seemed to be enjoying the advantages and pressure familiarity can bring. "It was an incredible round for me," he said. "I hit all the fairways almost and gave myself a lot of opportunities. I'm thankful that a few putts went in as well. I know it's sometimes hard on a home course to expect a good score but the course is forgiving and I know the greens. If you give yourself a lot of opportunities you can shoot low on any course, it just makes it a little bit extra special that it's my home course."

Lucky for some

Elvira turned in 33 on Thursday, nothing too remarkable on a day of very low scoring. He then rattled off seven birdies in a row from the tenth to catapult himself up the leaderboard. James Nitties' DP World Tour record of nine in a row may have been on his mind but his run ended at seven. "I loved it," he said. "When I turned my back to 16 I was like, 'I can't believe this is finishing today'. I was having a lot of fun and on days like this you don't want it to finish. I'm very happy and very pleased with the way I played."

It's a magic number

It's relatively common for a golfer to birdie all their par fives in a round but to do it on all the par threes, now that is a rare feat - one achieved by Richard Sterne on day one. "It was nice to make four birdies on the par threes," he said. "I think it's the first time I've done that in 100 years."

No putter required

You don't play in the Ryder Cup for nothing - what a shot Bernd Wiesberger.