China's Wenyi Ding fired seven birdies in a flawless 63 to share the lead alongside Englishman Jordan Smith after the first round of the 2025 Joburg Open.
Ding has impressed in his rookie season after earning a DP World Tour card as the inaugural winner of the Global Amateur Pathway ranking last year, announcing himself on the big stage with a joint-fifth finish at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open just before Christmas.
And he gave the South African crowds a glimpse of what he is capable of on Thursday morning as he stormed to the top of the leaderboard on seven under par.
Fellow early starter Smith - a two-time DP World Tour winner - then matched Ding's total courtesy of a tap-in birdie on the eighth, his penultimate hole, as he also signed for a bogey-free 63.
Home favourites Jayden Schaper and Malcolm Mitchell were part of a five-way tie for third one shot behind the joint-leaders, along with German Nicolai von Dellingshausen and Englishmen Marco Penge and Callum Tarren.
Ding flew out of the blocks, notching birdies at the first and second before making further gains on the fifth and eighth to turn in 31.
He also started the back nine strongly, with birdies on the tenth, 11th and 13th moving him to seven under before he parred his way home to keep his card clean.
Ding said: "I played pretty well today. Some short irons gave me a lot of birdie chances and I made a lot of putts."
When asked if having a South African caddie with plenty of local knowledge helped him, Ding added: "He was great. It's his birthday today and I promised I'd give him a trophy this week!"
Smith started from the tenth tee and followed up back-to-back birdies on the 12th and 13th with two more at the 15th and 18th as he reached the turn in 31 blows.
Further birdies followed on the first and fifth before a stunning approach into the eighth set up a two-foot birdie which sent Smith level with Ding at the summit.
Smith, who has not teed it up since withdrawing from the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters last month, said: "It was just nice to finally get a round under our belts after an unfortunate last couple of weeks.
"But yeah, just really nice. Like I say we haven't really played much golf the last couple of weeks due to a few injuries but I'm really happy.
"It'd be great to go obviously the four days and hopefully get the win."
