Gerhard Pepler overcame a triple-bogey seven on his opening nine on Thursday on his way to an adventurous seven-under-par 65 and a share of the first-round lead of the Sunshine Tour’s KitKat Cash & Carry Pro-am at Irene Country Club.

He shared the lead with Leon Vorster, who had just a single bogey on his card. The pair was a shot clear of Stefan Wears-Taylor and Martin Rohwer, with five players in a share of fourth on five-under, including Zimbabwe’s Kieran Vincent, who is keeping sharp ahead of LIV Golf’s next event.

Pepler, who won his maiden title on the Sunshine Tour last August, started sedately enough with a birdie on his first hole, the 10^th, and followed it with three pars. Then came the triple-bogey on the 14^th. He recovered pretty spectacularly, with an eagle-two on the par-four 15^th. He birdied the 16^th, made a second eagle on the par-five 17^th, and made birdie on 18 to turn in an astonishing four-under 32.

It was all action after the turn too, as he birdied one, bogeyed two, and then made another birdie on three. Then it looked as if he was on the par train all the way home until he made two birdies in a row on eight and nine to finish with a flourish.

It was a crammed leaderboard, with 10 players on four-under in a share of 10^th, and 13 on three-under in a share of 20^th. Of the 120-man field, 66 were on par or under.