England’s Joe Sullivan carded an opening round of three-under 67 on Tuesday to lead by one stroke in the second Big Easy Blue Label Invitational held at Killarney Country Club.

Starting on the 10th tee on Tuesday, Sullivan got off to a perfect start, making three birdies on his first five holes while keeping the big numbers at bay. An unwanted bogey finally visited his scorecard on the par-five 15th – his sixth hole of the day. He recovered from that with a birdie on 17 and then a par on 18 which was his ninth hole.

That par proved to be the first of seven in a row, but Sullivan suffered another setback when he dropped on the seventh. He steadied himself and walked away with a par on the eighth, his second-last hole of the round, before birdieing the last to seal a round of 67.

“It was a good round of golf,” said Sullivan. “I played nicely for the most part. It’s a tough golf course, and there are some tight holes out there. But today I had the putter rolling. I just played solid.

“You don’t have to do anything special on the first round; just solid golf; put it on the right spots and try to hit 18 greens and go from there. I think I did well today, and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

Members of the Papwa Sewgolum Class Keelan Africa, Jastice Mashego and Thabiso Ngcobo share second with Tristan Leonard, Leon Visser and Kian Coetzer after rounds of 68.