For two South Africans, their tactic of not thinking about shooting low bore fruit on Thursday as they positioned themselves up with the leaders after the first round of the Joburg Open at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club.

Desvonde Botes produced the round of the day with a fabulous seven-under-par 65 on the tougher East Course to claim second place behind leaders Damian McGrane and Jamie Elson, who both shot 63s on the West Course, which translates to eight-under-par.

George Coetzee went out in the morning and laid a marker with a fine round of six-under-par 65 on the par-71 West Course.

“I played very nicely today, bogey-free and with five birdies and an eagle at the last,” Botes said. “I just tried not to think too much about posting a score. I just concentrated on having fun and hitting every shot as good as possible.”

And the Pretoria-based Coetzee had the same mantra, although for different reasons as he was under pressure to shoot low first up on the easier West Course.

“It’s tough to start on that course because you know you have to come out the blocks quickly and score well. You’re under pressure to shoot low quickly. I just had to tell myself not to worry about the score and not try to force birdies. I had to just keep the ball in play and try and pick up birdies on the par-fives. And it worked because I didn’t have a five on my card,” Coetzee said after his bogey-free round.

Botes took a lot of confidence from his previous tournaments at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington, specifically on the East Course, where he became the youngest ever winner of the SA Amateur title, beating Springbok Barry Sundelson in 1991 and becoming the youngest ever winner at 16 years and five months, 20 days younger than the previous record-holder, Ernie Els.

“As an amateur, I used to shoot rounds of around 65 here, but that’s the first time I’ve done as well as a pro. I won the SA Amateur here in 1991, on the East Course, beating Barry Sundelson, and we play here more or less every year, it’s such a great course.

“I’ve always enjoyed the East Course more, but there are a lot of scoring opportunities on the West Course. I just need to keep my head and make sure I do well tomorrow as well,” Botes said.

For Coetzee, the key on Friday is keeping himself from getting in his own way.

“At the moment, it’s impossible for me to keep out of my own head. I’m going to see the psychologist tomorrow. Last week it bothered me a lot – I’d be on my way to a reasonably good score, but then I’d get in my own way and fall back to an average score,” Coetzee said.

The 25-year-old finished in a tie for 29th on 14-under at the Africa Open, after rounds of 71-68-69-70, which was reasonable but nothing spectacular in the wake of Louis Oosthuizen’s winning score of 27-under, the second-lowest in the history of the European Tour. The record-holder is Els, who won the Johnnie Walker Classic at Lake Karrinyup in 2003 with a score of 29-under-par.

The 37-year-old Botes will be fancying his chances of going very low in the second round as well as he ended the first round in the most spectacular fashion, with a birdie on the 17th and an eagle on the par-five 18th hole.

The momentum is certainly with the tall Hartebeestpoort golfer.

It may or may not be true that one can buy tins of Irish golfing brilliance in your local pro shop, but Damian McGrane kept the green, white and orange flag at the top of the leaderboard at the Joburg Open at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club on Thursday.

Irish golf is enjoying a phenomenal time of it on the various professional tours around the world and McGrane continued the trend on Thursday with a tremendous round of eight-under-par 63 to take him to the top of the leaderboard before a thunderstorm brought a halt to play.

“It’s been quite incredible the last three or four years for a small nation to have such great results and we do feed off each other a bit. When I won in China in 2008, Darren Clarke won the following week and Peter Lawrie the week after that. Every so often we have our good spells and I wouldn’t mine getting another one started here,” McGrane said after his great round.

To shoot seven birdies and an eagle and just one bogey (on the last hole!), McGrane obviously adhered to the theory that the most important way around the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington course is to keep your ball in play.

“I played beautifully, from start to finish. The West Course does give up opportunities to score and tomorrow will obviously be more difficult on the East Course. But the course is perfect, the weather was perfect and I made a few putts. <\p>

“I was able to stack up the birdies and chipped in for eagle on 15, which was a nice bonus. But the wetness of the course means there’s no run out there, the course is playing very long. I made use of every club in the bag and it was just about making the best of the situation. I hit every fairway, except for the last, which led to a bogey, which was disappointing,” McGrane said.

The 40-year-old is trying to recapture the heights of 2010, when he finished 41st on the European Tour Order of Merit, with a runner-up finish and five other top-10s, having endured a disappointing 2011. McGrane only finished 115th in the Race to Dubai and has failed to make a cut since the Castello Masters on April 23.

Barring a catastrophe on the East Course on Friday, McGrane will be in the money this weekend, trying to hold off the challenge of South African Desvonde Botes on seven-under, and the group on six-under comprising Joel Sjoholm, David Drysdale, George Coetzee, George Murray, Carlos del Moral, Shaun Norris and Jamie Elson.

Retief Goosen will have an axe to grind with whatever establishment he is boarding at this week having picked up a bout of food poisoning, but the two-time US Open champion didn’t allow it to stop him from firing a top-class round of 66 on the opening day of the Joburg Open at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club on Thursday.

Lately it’s been a dodgy back that has troubled Goosen, but that was fine on Thursday. His stomach – not so good.

“My back was okay, but I had a bit of stomach trouble. I went to the toilet six times before the round and another three times on the course. Maybe I should have had some Goose wine to settle it,” Goosen, whose other profession is wine-making, said.

Goosen’s round was set up by a fantastic front nine on the West Course in which he picked up five birdies.

“I had a good start with three straight birdies, the first nine was great but the back nine was a bit scrappy. I drove the ball okay on the back nine, but I didn’t really hit any good shots into the green. Seventeen was maybe another birdie chance,” Goosen mused.

Although he began the tournament on the easier of the two courses, Goosen said the West Course could still be tricky and he said the wind made it difficult to get his compass bearings right for some shots.

“The West Course is a bit shorter, but it still plays long and it’s still tricky. There are some very long par-fours and there’s a lot of moisture in the air, so the ball’s not flying that extra 10% you’d expect at altitude. I hit a few shots 10 or 15 yards short.

“There are some really good holes, 18 is tough, if you push the ball a little right off the tee, you can block yourself out. The wind was also never into you or straight down, it was coming through the trees, across the course the whole time, which makes it difficult to get the right ball-flight,” Goosen said.

The 42-year-old made pars on all but two of the holes on the back nine – bogeying the par-three 13th but then birdieing the par-five 15th hole.

“I played solid, maybe I could have had more birdies on the front nine, but you can push too hard on the West Course,” Goosen said.

South Africa’s Retief Goosen believes the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club will be a tricky test for the 210 golfers teeing it up in the Joburg Open starting on Thursday.

“The course is really long and very narrow and there’s a tough wind that blows across the whole course, which makes it tricky. The course is in great shape, but it will rain, it’s just a question of when.

“Down by the river, it’s very wet and you can hardly find a dry spot on the fairways, so more rain could be a problem,” Goosen warned on Wednesday.

The Goose said his initial aim in 2012 was to just recapture his best form after a back problem plagued him in 2011.

“My back is okay right now but I don’t know if I can win, I hope so! My last two tournaments went pretty well, just my putting let me down in the last rounds.

“Since the South Africa Open in November I’ve been playing nicely. Basically since my back got better, I’ve been able to practise better, to improve my game and make an impact. It’s from practising that you develop confidence and you have to have confidence to have feel.

“I’m not going to put too much pressure on myself, but it will be nice to have a chance to win,” Goosen said.

The two-time US Open champion said he has been receiving expert advice on his back problem.

“From the British Open it was a nightmare. I pulled out of a lot of tournaments and I couldn’t practice. I took a few months out because of my back, a couple of doctors suggested surgery, but I’m going to leave that as long as I can. I’m doing more physio and yoga to see if I can get the disk under control,” Goosen said.