Englishman Daniel Brown brushed off his late arrival into South Africa as he fired an opening 66 to sit one shot off the lead after the first round of the SDC Championship with Tom McKibbin a further three shots back.
Brown carded seven birdies and a single bogey on Thursday to reach six under par, one shot behind home favourites Pieter Moolman and Shaun Norris.
The 29-year-old suffered significant travel disruption ahead of the tournament, initially missing a flight from Frankfurt on Monday before arriving at the host venue in Eastern Cape on Wednesday afternoon, leaving no time for meaningful practice.
He said: "It's been the worst preparation for a golf tournament I think I’ve ever had and I played really nice.
"It just goes to show it’s a silly game. You can prepare for two, three, four days and you think you’ve cracked it. But it was a bit of a whirlwind of a 48 hours, to say the least.
"I missed my flight on Monday in Frankfurt, stayed overnight in Frankfurt. I tried getting my bags back on Tuesday and then couldn’t fly until Tuesday night.
"So I didn’t arrive at the golf course yesterday until about 4.30, then I was straight in the physio room."
McKibbin, meanwhile, made a poor start to his round as he bogeyed his first hole – the 10th – before birdies at 11 and 13 saw him move under par.
A bogey at the 17th saw him out in a level-par 36 but birdies at the second, third and eighth holes left him on three-under par.
Dublin’s Richie O’Donovan earned his spot in the event after finishing as top qualifier at Port Elizabeth Golf Club earlier this week, but he endured a tricky opening round, finishing on seven-over par.
Also starting on the 10th, O’Donovan opened with three pars before a disastrous triple bogey at the par-five 13th.
A birdie at 17 was followed by three more bogeys and a double bogey.
Additional reporting: PA
