Ruan de Smidt fired a bogey-free six-under-par 66 opening round in this week’s fifth Betway Big Easy Tour event, taking a two-shot lead at Akasia Golf Club on Wednesday.

Scheduled to start on Tuesday, this fifth event was moved to start on Wednesday, owing to the nation-wide protests which had been widely publicised.

De Smidt started off with a birdie on one and then another on the third hole. He kept things steady in the next three holes, walking off with pars on all three in an effort to keep the big numbers off his card. He found joy on the seventh, birdieing that hole and the next two after that.

“It was a little bit of everything today,” said De Smidt, reflecting on his sparkling round. “Front nine, I had a couple of chip-ins, which helped. It felt like I played really nicely on the front nine.”

It was on the homeward stretch that De Smidt showed his quality as he battled hard to minimise all mistakes. That was clearly underlined by the seven straight pars he made after the turn. He made gains on the 17th with a birdie that sealed a bogey-free 66.

“On the back nine, it felt like I couldn’t get anything going. I hit nine putts in the first nine holes, and then 17 putts on the back nine, which is a big difference. But, it’s all good because six-under par is always a decent round.

“I’ve had a couple of weeks now where I get a good start and then, unfortunately, I have no consistency. Hopefully, this week, that changes a bit and hopefully play the par-fives better than I did today.”

Leon Visser, Jordan Duminy and Werner Deyzel all signed for rounds of 68 to lie within two strokes of De Smidt’s lead.

“A very eventful round,” noted Visser after his round. “I struggled to get going today and then suddenly the putter heated up and I had four one-putts in a row. That helped quite a lot. I think there are some good scores out there.

“I did not start well in the last couple of events, so I’m happy to start well here. Starting well is key to having a solid tournament and I feel like I’m playing well. I am hungry and I want to be up there.”

Kian Coetzer, Wandre Snyman and Worcester Golf Club’s Keelan Africa share fifth on the leaderboard, thanks to respective rounds of 67.

Sharing eighth after opening rounds of two-under 70 is the trio of Makhetha Mazibuko, England’s Daniel Smith, Joshua van der Wath, Noel Anderson and State Mines Country Club’s Vaughn van Deventer.