English duo Chris Paisley and Matt Wallace led the charge in the opening round of the BMW SA Open Championship proudly hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni at Glendower Golf Club.
Both players started the tournament on the back nine and it was not long before they hit the birdie trail on the 11th and 13th to move to two under inside the first four holes.
Wallace nudged ahead with a gain on the next but when Paisley hit back-to-back birdies on the 15th and 16th, he took the lead.
Wallace holed two further birdies to turn in for a five-under 31 to regain the advantage at the top of the leaderboard, however, Paisley responded with his fifth birdie on the long par five second to join him as co-leader.
American Chase Koepka and South African Jacques Blaauw were one shot behind after nine and 11 holes respectively as the former began his round with bogey-eagle before draining three more birdies on the fifth, sixth and eighth.
South African amateur Garrick Higgo was at three under after 12, with England's Richard Bland, Scotland's Bradley Neil and home trio Haydn Porteous, Kyle McClatchie and Matt Saulez one shot further adrift.
