Keenan Davidse of South Africa overcome illness to shoot a superb eight-under-par 63 and seize the first round lead at the Joburg Open on Thursday.

                  Davidse can also qualify for The Open as the Joburg Open is part of the Qualifying Series

The 28-year-old fell ill before the event and was hospitalised for four days. He showed no signs of sickness when he fired nine birdies against one bogey at the Randpark Golf Club, par-71 Bushwillow course.

He held a one-shot lead over South Africa’s Jared Harvey, Erik van Rooyen, Ockie Strydom, England’s Matthew Baldwin, James Morrison and Sebastian Heisele of Germany, who all played at Bushwillow.

Asian Tour member Scott Barr of Australia was a further shot back in tied eighth place at the event which is the first tri-sanctioned tournament by the Asian Tour, Sunshine Tour and European Tour in South Africa.

                                          India's Shubhankar Sharma was tied at 38th in the Joburg Open 

Phachara Khongwatmai of Thailand, Shubhankar Sharma of India, Masahiro Kawamura of Japan and Jinho Choi of Korea, who played at the par-72 Firestone, were the best placed Asians in 38th place on matching 69s.

Gavin Green of Malaysia, the Order of Merit leader, returned with a 70 to lie in tied 60th place in the 240-man field.

Searching for a first career first win, Davidse turned in 32 before firing five birdies on his homeward nine to hold a slight edge over the chasing pack at the R16.5 million (approximately US$1.2 million) event.

SOME INTERESTING SNIPPETS ABOUT THE PLAYERS  

• Davidse is on track to better his best result at the Joburg Open earlier this year where he finished tied seventh, albeit on a different golf course.
• He has not won on the Sunshine Tour but enjoyed a solid 2017 season where he finished inside the top-five thrice and enjoyed a runner-up result in August.
• Davidse was among the leading seven players in round one who all played at the shorter Bushwillow course.
• He took advantage of his sharp-shooting game where he missed only two greens in regulation while totalling 26 putts.
• Davidse is now in the running to become the ninth South African to win the Joburg Open.
• He can also qualify for The Open as the Joburg Open is part of the Qualifying Series which offers three spots to the leading players who are not already exempt to The Open in 2018.
• Green of Malaysia is fighting to make the cut at the Joburg Open. He is currently on the bubble and needs to make the weekend rounds to stand a chance of winning the Asian Tour Order of Merit title on Sunday.
• Barr of Australia is also on a mission this week to save his Tour card for next year. He is currently ranked 60th on the Order of Merit and will need to finish inside the top-61 on the final ranking. The Joburg Open is the penultimate event on the 2017 Asian Tour Schedule.
• Darren Fichardt of South Africa opened his title defence with a disappointing 75 at Firestone.