On an indifferent day on Thursday for the South Africans in the Nedbank Golf Challenge, Branden Grace overcame an early double-bogey to card a two-under-par 70 in the opening round at Gary Player Country Club.

Grace started with a pair of pars, but he made his double on the third. He managed to claw back those shots with birdies on six and seven, but he dropped another shot on the tough eighth. He turned in one-over 37, and then made three birdies on his way in, on the 11^th, 14^th and 16^th.

He shared 12^th place, six strokes off the lead which was held by Ryan Fox of New Zealand. That made Grace the leading South African with Justin Walters after the first round. Walters, like Grace, had five birdies, a bogey and a double-bogey on his card, with his double coming on the par-three 12^th.

Richard Sterne and Shaun Norris were one shot further back in a share of 21^st on one-under-par, while Oliver Bekker, JC Ritchie and George Coetzee all kept themselves within shouting distance of upper reaches of the leaderboard with level-par 72 each in a share of 32^nd.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout had a one-over 73, Thriston Lawrence signed for a two-over 74, and Zander Lombard didn’t make a single birdie on his way to a four-over 76.