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Pretoria - Englishman Simon Dyson has closed with birdies on his final four holes on Thursday to card a seven-under-par 65 and take the first-round clubhouse lead in the European Tour's Tshwane Open.
When play was suspended due to the threat of lightning, South African Trevor Fisher junior was also on seven under after 16 and will complete his final two holes on Friday morning.
"It's a lovely start. It's my lowest round in a good few years, especially on the first day," Dyson said.
"It just puts you in a nice frame of mind, a good stead, and sets it up nicely to have a good weekend."
There are five players a shot back including four-times European Tour winner Darren Fichardt. South Africans have won 10 of the last 13 European Tour events on home soil.
England's Ross Fisher, who has not won since 2010, is also on six under.
Dyson says improvement with the putter was key to his first-round success.
"Putting has been the letdown for the last few weeks, but me and my caddie had a chat about what I'm doing wrong. We spent about an hour and a half on the putting green yesterday and I managed to get a good feel for it," Dyson said.
"I holed a good six-footer for par at the first and then about a 40-footer for birdie at the second and that was it, I was off and running."
Copperleaf Golf & Country Estate is the longest course in European Tour history. It has four par-five holes, including the monstrous 685-yard fourth.
Last year's winner Dawie van der Walt carded a 21-under-par total of 267. He is currently one under after 14 holes.
Scores (RSA unless otherwise specified):
-7 - Simon Dyson (ENG), Trevor Fisher Jnr [16]
-6 - Jared Harvey, Ross Fisher (ENG), Erik van Rooyen, Darren Fichardt [17], Danie van Tonder [17]
-5 - Lucas Bjerregaard (DEN), Chris Wood (ENG), Shiv Kapur (IND), Morten Orum Madsen (DEN) [17], Kristoffer Broberg (SWE) [15], Kevin Phelan (IRL) [14]
-4 - Daan Huizing (NED), Magnus A Carlsson (SWE), Anthony Wall (ENG), Shane Lowry (IRL), Jean Hugo, Ricardo Santos (POR), Carlos Del Moral (ESP), Jacques Blaauw, Maximilian Kieffer (GER) [15], Jake Roos [15]
-3 - Heinrich Bruiners, Ruan de Smidt, Jorge Campillo (ESP), David Howell (ENG), Michael Hoey (NIR), Brandon Pieters, Jack Doherty (SCO), Andy Sullivan (ENG), Peter Whiteford(SCO), Merrick Bremner, Thomas Aiken [17], James Morrison (ENG) [13]
-2 - Mark Foster (ENG), Robert Rock (ENG), Toto Thimba (Jnr), Tyrrell Hatton (ENG), Justin Harding, Christiaan Basson, Jbe' Kruger, Haydn Porteous, George Coetzee, Adilson Da Silva (BRA), Mikko Korhonen (FIN), Joel Sjoholm (SWE), Soren Hansen (DEN), Adrian Otaegui (ESP), Paul Waring (ENG), Alejandro Canizares (ESP), Oliver Bekker, Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND), Nacho Elvira (ESP) [17], Edoardo Molinari (ITA) [15], Fredrik Andersson Hed (SWE) [15], Graham van der Merwe [15]
-1 - Bryce Easton, Shaun Norris, Doug McGuigan, Jaco Van Zyl, Hennie Otto, PH McIntyre, Warren Abery, Andrea Pavan (ITA), James Kingston, Louis de Jager, CJ du Plessis, Pablo Martin Benavides (ESP), Colin Nel, Titch Moore, Vaughn Groenewald, Connor Arendell (USA) [17], Jaco Ahlers [17], Neil Schietekat [16], Jens Dantorp (SWE) [16], Tjaart van der Walt [14], Tyrone Mordt [14]
Par - David Drysdale (SCO), JB Hansen (DEN), Andreas Harto (DEN), Soren Kjeldsen (DEN), Gregory Bourdy (FRA), James Kamte, Daniel Brooks (ENG), Thomas Pieters (BEL), Omar Sandys, Callum Mowat, Patrik Sjoland (SWE), Andrew Curlewis, Jamie McLeary (SCO), Alex Haindl, Keenan Davidse, Michael Jonzon (SWE), Lyle Rowe, Wallie Coetsee, Justin Walters [16], Tyrone Ferreira [15], Matthew Baldwin (ENG) [15], Graeme Storm (ENG) [14], Brinson Paolini (USA) [13], Gert Myburgh [13], Grant Veenstra [12]
+1 - JJ Senekal, Dean Burmester, Charl Coetzee, Romain Wattel (FRA), Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Niclas Fasth (SWE), Marc Warren (SCO), Ulrich van den Berg, Allan Versfeld, Michael Hollick, Alan McLean (SCO), Michiel Bothma, Richard Bland (ENG) [17], Oliver Fisher (ENG) [16], Ross McGowan (ENG) [14], Francois Calmels (FRA) [14], Peter Lawrie (IRL) [14], Tyrone Ryan [12]
+2 - Damien McGrane (IRL), Hendrik Buhrmann, Chris Swanepoel, Eddie Pepperell (ENG), Chris Doak (SCO), Garrick Porteous (AMA) (ENG), Divan van den Heever, Keith Horne, Simon Wakefield (ENG), Johan Carlsson (SWE), James Heath (ENG) [17], Estanislao Goya (ARG) [16], Martin du Toit [16], Lindani Ndwandwe [15], Ryan Cairns (ZIM) [14], Sam Walker (ENG) [13], Ryan Strauss [13], Morne Buys [12]
+3 - Peter Karmis, Gareth Maybin (NIR), Roberto Lupini, Jose-Filipe Lima (POR), Gregory Havret (FRA) [16]
+4 - Scott Jamieson (SCO), Dylan Frittelli, Grant Muller, Robert Dinwiddie (ENG), Mikael Lundberg(SWE)
+5 - Dawie Van der Walt [16], Stuart Manley (WAL) [14], Nic Henning [13]
+11 - Yubin Jung, Sipho Bujela
