Johannes Veerman believes a bounce back birdie on the second hole was the key to his brilliant opening 64 on day one of the 2020 Joburg Open.
After opening his round with a bogey on the first, Veerman responded in style, birdieing the second before reeling off a hat-trick of gains on the fourth, fifth and sixth.
He closed the front nine with another birdie and continued to impress after the turn, picking up shots at the 12th, 14th and 18th and producing good par saves on the 15th and 17th to keep his round going.
The American ended the day on seven under par and found himself a single shot behind first round co-leaders Wilco Nienaber and Shaun Norris.
Veerman came into the week with a spring in his step, having finished in a tie for fourth at the Aphrodite Hills Cyprus Showdown in his last outing.
And he admitted his bogey at the opening hole took him by surprise at Randpark Golf Club.
He said: "I was hitting it well on the range warming up and I just hit a bad shot on the first. It kind of came out of nowhere and I made a bogey.
Johannes Veerman's good form continues ✍️@Workday #JoburgOpen
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) November 19, 2020
"Sometimes when those things happen you wonder what's going to happen. I made a birdie on the next hole, which is a really tough hole, and that kind of really settled me into the round.
"I turned at four under and just kept going from there."
Veerman was delighted to make a strong start to the tournament.
He said: "It's good to start off well. I think the next challenge is just to keep it going.
"I don't know if I can shoot more seven under par rounds. I hope I can.
"I'm playing well, if I can just keep it rolling and stay out of my own way, we'll see where we are at the end of the week."
Canadian Aaron Cockerill also shot a 64 on Thursday, making seven birdies and no bogeys to reach seven under.
He said: "I played great. I didn't make any bogeys and just played steady, didn't do anything too crazy.
"I played solid, good start, happy with it and ready to keep going over the next few days.
"I hit the ball pretty straight and I feel like the fairways are narrow and it's pretty essential to hit the fairways here.
"I like the look of the course, I like the greens. I'm just trying to keep it out of the kikuyu rough basically."
