Naidoo was level-par after the front nine, but blazed his way back to the clubhouse with five birdies, picking up back-to-back shots on both the 10th and 11th holes and the last two holes of his round, for a five-under-par 66.

This left him one stroke clear of the group of six golfers on four-under-par 67 - Nikhil Rama, Kyle McClatchie, Jaco Prinsloo, Rhys West, Richard Joubert and Lindani Ndwandwe.

The patience the 24-year-old showed - and not letting the back-to-back bogeys he made on the par-five fifth and par-three sixth holes lead to frustration - was the most impressive aspect of his round.

"On the front nine the weather was pretty benign, but I knew the wind would pick up," Naidoo said. "After the bogeys, you start thinking 'I'm one-over on the easy bit where there's no wind', but I was playing super-solid golf and I'd had a couple of unlucky breaks.

"So I just needed to keep playing the way I'd been playing and it all fell into place nicely on the back nine. I've been playing really well lately and it's just that final part on the scoreboard that's lacking.

"But you can't force things, you have to let the score happen. You can't take on flags that you don't need to because that just leads to compounding errors instead of multiplying birdies.

"You don't have to play perfect golf to be at the top of the leaderboard, and I've shown nice progression in understanding that. Long may it continue," Naidoo said.

Umhlali Country Club was established in 1960 as a nine-hole course, but the acquisition of the design services of Peter Matkovich in 1970 led to the birth of the current 18-hole course.  It may be short, but it is undulating and there is plenty of water, so the golfers are going to earn their keep in this three-round, R1 million Sunshine Tour event.

ROUND 1 SCORES:

66 - Dylan Naidoo

67 - Nikhil Rama, Kyle McClatchie, Jaco Prinsloo, Rhys West, Richard Joubert, Lindani Ndwandwe

68 - Michael Hollick

69 - Stephen Ferreira, Jean Hugo, Luke Brown, Benjamin Follett-Smith, Jonathan Broomhead

70 - Christiaan Burke, Clinton Grobler, Siyanda Mwandla, Gerhard Pepler, Keelan van Wyk, James Pennington

71 - Kevin Rhoderick, Madalitso Muthiya, Keagan Thomas, JJ Senekal, Hennie O'Kennedy, Adam Breen, Makhetha Mazibuko, Ian Snyman, Peter Karmis, Louis Albertse, Divan van den Heever, Gregory Mckay

72 - Jason Froneman, Quintin Wilsnach, Thanda Mavundla, Ruan Korb, Doug McGuigan, Jared Harvey, Matthew Spacey

73 - Ruan de Smidt, Toto Thimba Jnr, Callum Mowat, Paul Boshoff, Neil Schietekat, Lyle Rowe, Steve Surry, Keenan Davidse, Dayne Moore, Jacques P de Villiers, Rourke van der Spuy, Clayton Mansfield, Malcolm Mitchell

74 - Therion Nel, Chris Cannon, Ryan Van Velzen, Clancy Waugh, Thabang Simon, Matias Calderon, Michael Kok

75 - Daniel Bennett, Martin Rohwer, Brooklin Bailey, Chris Swanepoel, SP Mthethwa

76 - Hayden Griffiths, Brandon-Jude Rennie, Maverick Faber, Nicholaus Frade, Andre Van Dyk, Combrinck Smit

77 - Henning du Plooy, Adriel Poonan, Ockie Strydom, Jake Redman, Harry Konig, Vaughn van Deventer

78 - Samuel Simpson

79 - Bradley Bawden, Richard Kruger, Ricco Motsa, Slenda Sithebe

80 - Shaahid Mahmed

81 - Shalan Govender, Gareth Sargent

82 - Alphius Kelapile, James Mack

85 - Mandla Dlamini Jnr