India's Shubhankar Sharma failed to build on a superb start to finish at two-under 70 in the first round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player on the European Tour, here on Thursday.
Shubhankar, who finished tied-seventh in Turkish Airlines Open last week, was four-under after starting from the 10th. But he gave away three bogeys and had just one more birdie on the front nine for a card of 70. He was lying tied-17th.
Louis Oosthuizen took the lead with a brilliant nine-under 65, while Thomas Detry shot 66. Guido Migliozzi turned in 30 to set a blistering pace but finished at 67 in third place.
South Africans, Ernie Els and Zander Lombard were tied fourth at 68. Els got a rapturous reception as he went off in the first group of the day and soon had the crowd cheering even more.