PORTUGAL’S Ricardo Santos carded a flawless 62 to claim the lead after a day of low scoring in the Africa Open in East London.

Santos, the European Tour rookie of the year in 2012 after winning his first title on home soil in the Madeira Islands Open, fired nine birdies and no bogeys to finish nine under par, two ahead of Garth Mulroy, Rhys Davies, Richard Bland and Lucas Bjerregaard.

Scotland’s David Drysdale was among a six-strong group another shot adrift on six under on a day when 91 players broke 70 and 110 of the 156- strong field finished below par.

Rob Dinwiddie, from Barnard Castle enjoyed a twounder 68, while John Parry of Harrogate endured a five-over par round of 76.

‘‘I played really solidly today and gave myself a lot of chances for birdie, and I took a lot of those chances,’’ Santos said.

‘‘I hit the ball solidly from the tee and my putting was all good. To shoot minus nine you have to play awesome golf, so I’m really pleased with every piece of my game.

‘‘If the wind blows this is a very tough course, but today if you put the ball in the fairway you had the chance to shoot a low round. Today was definitely one of my best rounds of golf so far. I put the ball very close, didn’t miss a fairway, and that’s the key on this course.’’ Mulroy was leading the South African contingent out to maintain their dominance of events on home soil.

George Coetzee’s victory in the Joburg Open on Sunday means nine of the last 12 European Tour events staged in South Africa have been won by home players, with all four previous Africa Opens won by South Africans.

And although Coetzee was not in East London after withdrawing in order to prepare for next week’s WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona, Mulroy took up the mantle with an opening 64.

He carded six birdies, an eagle and one bogey to finish seven under par, while Davies recovered from a bogey on the first to fire eight birdies in his last 16 holes.

Bland produced a flawless round containing an eagle on the third and five birdies in a back nine of 30 as the players took advantage of calm conditions on a course measuring just 6,632 yards. That is extremely short by modern standards and a repeat of the winning total of 27 under by Louis Oosthuizen in 2012 is on the cards.