Max Homa continued his love affair with Gary Player Country Club as the defending champion produced a birdie-birdie finish to lead by one shot after the first round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge.
American Ryder Cup star Homa is back in South Africa to defend the title he won in memorable fashion on his tournament debut last November.
And it did not take him long to rediscover the fine form that helped him earn that four-shot win, as he made a blistering start on Thursday, kicking off the week with three straight birdies.
Homa made three more gains to storm to the top of the leaderboard before a sticky patch on the back nine saw him surrender two bogeys.
But he bounced back in style, finishing his round with back-to-back birdies to sign for an opening 66, reach six under par and overtake early clubhouse leader Ockie Strydom at the summit.
Home hope Strydom sat alone in second on five under after carding an eagle, four birdies and a single bogey in his 67. Pablo Larrazábal, Andy Sullivan, Matthew Jordan and Thorbjørn Olesen were then in a tie for third two shots further back.
Homa showed the rest of the field that he meant business as he sent a delightful approach shot to around six feet at the first before confidently slotting in the birdie putt.
The 34-year-old then got up and down from a greenside bunker on the second to make it two in a row before completing his birdie hat-trick from ten feet at the par-four third.
Homa continued to make serene progress on the front nine, converting birdie putts from inside five feet on the sixth and ninth to join the lead at five under.
He took the outright lead with a birdie from ten feet at the 11th before dropping his first shot of the day on the 13th.
There was more trouble to come at the 15th as he failed to get up and down from the rough by the green despite a fine chip.
That saw him surrender his share of the lead and slip to four under before bouncing back with a birdie from eight feet at the difficult 17th.
And he saved his best until last, finishing with an 11-foot birdie to regain the outright lead.
Homa said: “I thought I played really well. It was really tricky with the wind, it did a complete flip on seven, so it threw us through a bit of a loop but I thought I did a really good job of adjusting to it.
"Made one mistake on the 15th, leaving it long of that pin, but otherwise I did a pretty good job of playing within myself and not hitting shots I don’t love to hit, so yeah it was good.
“It felt really good because I haven’t played a tournament in a while and I have been working on a lot of new stuff, so to come out and birdie the first three holes was cool. The way I was doing it felt nice and I felt really comfortable with the golf swing for the most part, so it is definitely one I will remember, that is for sure."
