Jaco Ahlers took full advantage of a hot putter on the back nine and soared to the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the SunBet Challenge hosted by Wild Coast Sun with a round of six-under-par 64.

Ahlers came home in a tremendous 30 strokes, making five birdies on the back nine. He leads Trevor Mahoney, who came home in 31 shots to post a 65, by one stroke, with Keegan McLachlan a shot further back after a 66 that included an eagle-two on the short, 315 metre par-four second hole.

The 41-year-old Ahlers has been playing solidly recently, but has not been getting the reward on the greens. His last four finishes have been ties for 13th, fifth, 23rd and 10th.

“I finally made some putts today. The putter was the catalyst for my 64. Not so much on the front nine, where I had 16 putts, including sinking one from off the green for birdie on the fifth. But on the back nine I had just 12 putts, so I capitalised on some pretty good golf and sank nice putts on the 13th and 17th holes,” Ahlers said.

“I played two weeks ago in Morocco on the Asian Tour, and the putter was very cold, that probably cost me the win. But I’ve been playing decent golf lately and in the last few months my acceptance of things on the course has been a bit better.

“That’s a big thing at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club where conditions are always different one day to the other. The greens can be bumpy and there are normally strong winds, you just have to not get too agitated. The wind was up today but it was just experience, having played here and done well many times before, that allowed me to manage it well,” said Ahlers, who won the 2016 Wild Coast Sun Challenge and lost in a playoff in the 2014 Vodacom Origins Wild Coast event.

Mahoney, a former South African amateur star, was level-par after eight holes, but then collected back-to-back birdies on the ninth and 10th holes. He was then able to further massage his score with a strong finish, picking up further strokes on the 15th, 16th and 18thholes.

McLachlan, from Silver Lakes Country Club, started his round on the 10th and went out in level-par. But the 25-year-old was excellent on the front nine, birdieing the first and fourth holes to add to his eagle on the second.

Jacques P. de Villiers, Gerhard Pepler, Pieter Moolman, Jaco van Zyl, Matthew Spacey and Leon Vorster were all tied in fourth place after shooting three-under-par 67s.

SCORES:

64 - Jaco Ahlers
 65 - Trevor Mahoney
 66 - Keegan Mclachlan
 67 - Jacques P de Villiers, Pieter Moolman, Gerhard Pepler, Jaco Van Zyl, Matthew Spacey, Leon Vorster
 68 - Callum Mowat, Nikhil Rama, Shaun Norris, Yurav Premlall, Ruan Korb, Jake Redman, Brandon Stone, DK Kim, Ricky Hendler, Andre De Decker
 69 - Graham van der Merwe, Colin Nel, Haydn Porteous, Trevor Fisher Jnr, Lyle Rowe, Tristin Galant, Neil Schietekat, Jbe' Kruger, Robson Chinhoi, Hennie O'Kennedy, Jean-Paul Strydom, Jason Roets, Rourke van der Spuy, Franklin Manchest, Austin Bautista
 70 - Lyle Pedro, Ruan de Smidt, Pierre Pellegrin, Thanda Mavundla, Jean Hugo, Fredrik From, Jacques Blaauw, Stefan Wears-Taylor, Sentanio Minnie, Keenan Davidse, Jaco Prinsloo, Heinrich Bruiners, Luke Brown
 71 - Quintin Wilsnach, Wynand Dingle, CJ du Plessis, Michael Hollick, Gerard du Plooy, Irvin Mazibuko, Stals Swart, Combrinck Smit, MJ Viljoen, Daniel van Tonder, Herman Loubser, Dylan O'Leary, Ruan Groenewald
 72 - Regan Steyn, Martin Rohwer, Adam Breen, Musiwalo Nethunzwi, Gary Kemp, Kyle De Beer, Malcolm Mitchell, Jonathan Broomhead, Christiaan Basson, Allister de Kock, Otto Van Buynder
 73 - Jordan Duminy, Jacob Oakley, Sean Bradley, Kayle Wykes, Joe Long, Kyle McClatchie, Danie Van Niekerk, Nick Cunningham, Brandon Pieters, Vaughn van Deventer, Christiaan Burke, Merrick Bremner, Dayne Moore, Thabiso Ngcobo, Steven Le Roux
 74 - Jacquin Hess, Luke Jerling, Toto Thimba Jnr, James Mack, Hayden Griffiths, Makhetha Mazibuko, Brandon Meads, Dan Erickson, Umar Davids
 75 - Albert Venter, Jastice Mashego, Werner Deyzel, Slenda Sithebe
 76 - Lindani Ndwandwe, Brandon Gildenhuys, Conner Mackenzie, Therion Nel, Keagan Thomas
 77 - Gregory Mckay, Travis Ladner, Thabang Simon, Samuel Simpson, Ethan Smith, LB Boshoff, Pride Sembo
 78 - Christian Kriek, Christopher Long, Terence Boardman
 80 - Teboho Sefatsa
 81 - Simon du Plooy
 82 - Jared Harvey
 83 - Alex Haindl
 85 - Richard Kruger