Kristoffer Reitan led the Nedbank Golf Challenge in honour of Gary Player on nine under par after a superb opening 63 in Sun City.
Marcus Armitage and Jesper Svensson had set the early target at six under, and were later joined there by Adrien Saddier, but Reitan was out on his own after a stunning round featuring ten birdies and one dropped shot.
Reitan made a flying start to his round, clipping his approach at the first to two feet and holing from eight feet at the second for back-to-back birdies.
His brilliant approach to six inches from a fairway bunker at the sixth set up a third birdie and four in succession followed around the turn, including putts from 12 feet at the eighth and 11 at the 11th.
He picked up further shots at the 14th and 15th and though the 17th brought his one dropped shot of the round after he found sand off the tee, he holed from the fringe at the last to return to nine under.
Reitan said: "It was a brilliant day, very, very happy the way I played. Off the tee, in towards the greens, I was happy, and a couple of wedge shots that were really good, so that was nice to see, and I was rolling the putter well.
"So it was a great start and I'm very, very pleased.
"I've been working hard on (approach play) recently and it's good to have those days where you see that it's improved, and I'm hoping I continue that."
The Norwegian's best previous result in South Africa has been a tie for 42nd, at both the 2019 Alfred Dunhill Championship and the 2020 Limpopo Championship but he said he feels "comfortable" playing in the country.
He added: "I haven't had any particularly good results in South Africa so I'm hoping to change that this week.
"But I am playing better overall right now than I was when I played here previously so hoping that counts for something."
Svensson started on the back nine and played it in one under par before his inward nine featured two superb eagles, at the second and the ninth.
He said: “It was good, two eagles with tap-ins so that’s always fun!
“Both great tee-shots, both (approaches) were within two feet, so it was two very nice ones.
“I’m quite happy with how I navigated my round today. It seemed to work today so I think I’ll stick to the same plan.”
Armitage also started from the tenth and turned in 31 before adding a sixth birdie at the first.
He moved to eight under with gains at the first and sixth only for a closing seven at the par-five ninth to leave him tied with Svensson and Saddier.
The Englishman said: "I made a lot of birdies and just had a lot of fun out there and yeah, just been a cool day.”
Saddier had six birdies in a bogey-free round and he said: "Yeah, it was good. Played solid, just missed two greens so pretty solid with the irons, so got a lot of birdie chances.
"It’s nice (to go bogey free). I didn’t do that much this year, so good to have one to start the new season. Really pleased."
Garrick Higgo and Shaun Norris were the leading home players in a group of six tied for fourth on four under. Higgo said: "My putter kept me in it. It's still a long way to go, but it's a great start."
Tom McKibbin, Julien Guerrier, Thomas Detry and Haoton Li were the other players on that score.
