Lee-Anne Pace felt she was still in the process of shaking off the rust on Wednesday as she carded a three-under-par 69 in the weather-affected opening round of the Sunshine Ladies Tour’s SuperSport Ladies Challenge presented by Sun International.

Pace made an eagle, four birdies and three bogeys on the Gary Player Country Club layout at Sun City in the first round of the new Sunshine Ladies Tour season. With the bad weather causing a lengthy delay in the middle of the round, the five-time Investec South African Women’s Open champion found her score holding up for a one-stroke lead. There were three players within a single stroke of her, two of whom had six and more holes to play.

“The rust is still coming off,” said Pace, “but I hit the ball nicely. I got it up and down when I needed to, and things felt solid around the greens. So all in all, I’m pleased with this start.”

If those were the things that went well for Pace, it was putting which was perhaps a little rustier than the rest of her game. “The greens were a little slow, which is understandable given all the rain they’ve had,” she said. “So I three-putted for a couple of my bogeys. And on my last hole, the ninth, I nearly hit a member of my family on my way to making bogey there.”

Her eagle came on the 18^th – better known to South African fans as the iconic island hole played as the ninth in many other tournaments – and it came after birdies on 12 and 15. She made her first bogey on the 16^th, but a birdie on the third ahead of the rain break took her to four-under. But then, she had to sit and wait. “It was tough for everyone having such a long break,” she said. “You don’t know whether to hang around or go to your hotel room. I felt for the girls who had to hang around for four hours before teeing off.”

On her return, she picked up a birdie on the fifth, but then there were dropped shots on the seventh and the ninth as her round came to an end.

England’s Lily May Humphreys also made an eagle on the 18^th, her closing hole, on her way to a two-under-par 70. She had three birdies and three bogeys on her card as she finished her play for the day one behind Pace.

Also in the clubhouse was Elena Moosmann of Switzerland with a one-under 71. Genevieve Ling of Malaysia and South Africa’s Monique Smit had completed their rounds at level-par 72.

Play was halted at 7.05pm and will resume on Thursday at 8am.