Brandon Pieters seemed surprised but quite satisfied after firing a six-under par 66 to take a one stroke lead after the first-round of the SAA Pro-Am Invitational at Randpark Golf Club.

After struggling to find form over the past couple of tournaments, Pieters still hit a few rusty shots but managed to manoeuvre the quick greens to hold that one shot lead over defending champion and Randpark member Ryan Tipping.

Merrick Bremner was the next best afternoon finisher on four-under par. He joins Jaco van Zyl, Steven Ferreira, and Danie van Niekerk in a tie for third.

In afternoon conditions which got considerably warmer and windier, Pieters got to work early with a birdie on the 12th, his third hole. He bogeyed the 14th after a couple of loose shots, but bounced back with consecutive birdies at the 17th and 18th holes.

He then put his foot on the gas on the second nine with more birdies at the second, fourth, eighth, and ninth holes to cap off a great start to the tournament.

“It was a pretty decent round,” said Pieters. “I hit a couple of poor shots here-and-there, but the short game actually surprised me a bit.”

When asked about where he made his birdies, Pieters was totally stumped and actually conceded that the 66 was a total surprise in the end.

Pieters has been working on the mental side of his game for the last couple of weeks as he prepares to go to the final stage of European Tour Qualifying School in December.

“I’ve been trying to get back into last year’s form, so there is a lot of pressure on me especially since I will be going to final stage of tour school in Europe in December,” He said.

Tipping was the leader after the morning session after hitting all 18 greens in regulation but unfortunately three-putted the last two holes to somewhat spoil what could have been a really great round.

He didn’t seem too perturbed though and even went as far as saying that he would not fire at pins too closely tomorrow so that he doesn’t have to face the short putts.

“I missed three putts within five feet today, but otherwise it was perfect.”