Dylan Naidoo carded a five-under-par 66 on Wednesday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Sunshine Tour’s SunBet Challenge hosted by Sun Sibaya at Umhlali Country Club.

Naidoo made seven birdies and two bogeys in his round, and that have him the edge over a group of six players on four-under. Nikhil Rama, Kyle McClatchie, Jaco Prinsloo, Rhys West, Richard Joubert and Lindani Ndwandwe all signed for four-under-par 67s and were one clear of Michael Hollick whose three-under 68 gave him eighth place on his own.

Naidoo started his day in the best possible way with a birdie on the first, but he dropped two shots in a row on the fifth and the sixth. He got things back to even-par with a birdie on the seventh, and he turned in level-par. His birdies on 10 and 11, and on 17 and 18, bracketed another on the 14^th, and those five birdies saw him come home in 31.

That back nine was a putting masterclass, as he had just 10 putts there – helped by a chip-in birdie on the par-three 18^th when he missed the green there. With 15 putts on the front nine, that gave him just 25 for the round. With some accuracy off the tee, together with precision in to the greens – he hit 11 of 14 fairways and 13 of 18 greens – his game showed the kind of consistency which makes it look as if he might break through for a maiden Sunshine Tour win soon.

Naidoo has two top-10s in his Sunshine Tour season so far, and he finished in a share of 11^th in last week’s tournament, the Blue Label Challenge at the tough Gary Player Country Club at Sun City. The winner of that tournament, Stephen Ferreira, opened with a two-under-par 69 for a share of ninth.

Ian Snyman, back in South Africa after a year which has been his debut season on the Asian Tour, where he lies 17^th on the Order of Merit, and 10^th on the International Series Order of Merit, lies in a share of 20^th on level-par, Snyman also had some starts on the LIV Golf circuit.