England's Daniel Brooks carded a flawless eight-under-par 62 on Wednesday to claim the lead after a weather-delayed first round at the Nelson Mandela Championship in Durban.
The 26-year-old, who has had a largely disappointing rookie campaign this year but retained his European Tour card at Qualifying School last month, surged to the top of the pile with a burst of four birdies in five holes from the eighth.
Francois Calmels was hot on his heels thanks to a seven-under 63, with two fellow Frenchmen - Edouard Dubois and Romain Wattel - also in contention after 64s and Sweden's Joel Sjoholm and Zimbabwe's Ryan Cairns joint fifth a further shot back.
"It's been a long day," said Brooks. "I was completely focused on getting to the 18th tee box when we got called in. That probably helped, in a way, because I just kept playing and the result was good."
It was a bogey-free round for him, with four birdies on the opening nine and four more on the homeward stretch on a course which was reduced to a par-70 track: The 293-metre (320-yard) par-four fifth was converted into a 130-metre (142-yard) par-three because the fairway was so waterlogged.
For Brooks, as for so many players who go so low, putting was the key.
"I pretty much holed everything I looked at, which was quite nice," he said.
"I haven't putted that great over the last couple of weeks, so to hole a few was pretty nice."
He was happy with his iron play, but not as thrilled with his driving.
"I've been hitting it nicely off the tees, but I didn't do that today," he added.
"We were lucky that we could place in the fairways, which gave us a bit of relief. The fairways weren't too bad in places, but you need to keep it out of the rough around here because it's really thick.
"It was soaking wet and you're getting no run at all. It's not too bad and they've shortened a few holes as well. If you're hitting it on the fairways it's pretty score-able."
The action had got under way seven hours later than scheduled following heavy rain on the Mount Edgecombe Country Club course.
More than half the field were unable to complete their opening rounds, with many - including defending champion Scott Jamieson of Scotland - yet to start. Play is set to resume at 0600 on Thursday (0800GMT).
Challenge Tour graduate Calmels was delighted to continue his fine form after winning in Mauritius last week.
"It was a great week for me," said the 32-year-old, who sank a 15-foot putt at the 18th to keep himself firmly in the hunt.
He added on www.europeantour.com: "I made a great last round 65 to win by one over Hennie (Otto) and that give me quite a bit of self-confidence.
"I know I'm playing well and the great round today was just perfect."
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