Nicolai Højgaard, playing in his first DP World Tour event since winning the Ryder Cup in September, fired eight birdies and two bogeys for a 6-under 66 and a share of the lead at the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

"It was quite steady out there today," said the Dane. "I felt like I hit a lot of fairways, quite conservatively off the tee - a lot of five woods and three woods today to keep them in play and try and work my way into the week.

"So I did that really well today and hit some quality iron shots, rolled in a few putts and then you shoot 66 round here, which I'm over the moon to shoot 66."

England's Dan Bradbury joined him in the lead after closing with an eagle at the par-5 9th having already made five birdies and a bogey at the par-3 16th.

"Just a very solid day. Got off to a good start, a few birdies early on and dropped one, which kind of annoyed me, so I had a bit of a point to prove after that, and obviously that finish was quite nice," said Bradbury.

"If you just hit fairways, because of the altitude it doesn't play that long, so you give yourself a lot of chances."

Also tied for the lead are Sweden's Vincent Norrman and Max Homa of the United States who both stayed bogey-free.

France's Julien Guerrier shot a bogey-free 67 for a share of fifth place at 5-under as did Japan's Ryu Hisatsune and Poland's Adrian Meronk.