His awesome 9-under total, which was just one shot shy of Sergio Garcia's course record set in 2001 on the tough Gary Player Country Club layout, has put big-hitting Stenson five shots clear of a tenacious Rory Sabbatini heading into Friday's second round, Sabbatini at 4-under 68 being the only pursuer who seemed, at least for a time, to be able to hang on to Stenson's vapour trails.

"I was a little bit tired coming into the tournament, but the birdies came in bunches and I sank a 12-footer on the 13th which started a nice little run for me," a delighted Stenson said afterwards.

" I didn't know about the record, but I wish someone had told me because I would definitely have gone one better.

"I only hit driver once today but I had a strong 3-wood. I kept hitting the fairways and played some great iron shots and putted well.

"My game is obviously on and I just need to keep it going tomorrow. It's a strong field and even though I've opened some ground on them, I need to keep my head down tomorrow and stick to business."

Worksop's Lee Westwood who hit the ball superbly all day and could have been right up on Stenson's tail with a hotter putter, is at 2-under in third place. He is the only other player under par after the first round.

Westwood said: "I started slowly because I've had four weeks off since I had my tonsils out and I've only played four times since the Ryder Cup.

"I felt a little rusty and I wasn't as competitive and as sharp as I would have liked.

"I didn't really make any putts today, but I expect I'll get better with each round. I just need to sharpen up on the greens because I let myself down there today."

The fact that Westwood is one of only three who broke par today gives a great deal of credibility to Stenson's spectacular performance which he built with a series of long and accurate drives and some top-class putting on the course's beautifully-true, bent grass greens.

Behind Westwood, defending champion Trevor Immelan is positioned in a logjam of six players at 72,

Those tied with him including the World No 2 Sergio Garcia, England's Luke Donald, Korean star KJ Choi, local hopeful James Kingston, the SA Open champion and Robert Karlsson, Stenson's partner in Sweden's triumph at the Omega Mission Hills World Cup last week.

Karlsson, who got to 4-under, actually lead Stenson by a shot in the early part of today's round, but got dumped down the 12-man field when he bogeyed the 8th and double bogeyed the 11th and 12th holes.

A third Englishman, Justin Rose, who was second here last year, and lone American Kenny Perry, who comes here fresh from a great season on the US PGA Tour that earned him three titles and well over $4 million, are tied for 10th with 1-over 73s and Spanish golf eccentric, Miguel Angel Jimenez, another of last week's World Cup stars, brings up the rear with a disappointing 75 that has put him 12 shots off the pace after just one round.

Stenson, in the meantime, made it clear from the outset that he meant business on a course he says is one of his favourites.

The Swede, whose good looks garnered him a following of swooning Chinese ladies at The World Cup last week, posted three birdies on the first three holes and never looked back.

He bogeyed the par-3 7th, but promptly made back-to-back birdies to turn at 4-under.

It was his birdie at the 10th that really seemed to set him off however, the Swede going birdie-eagle-birdie from the 13th to the 15th to 9-under before costing home untroubled with three pars.

NJothing is certain at the Gary Player Country Club - as Karlsson found out to his cost today - but all the first round evidence indicates that Stenson is going to be a hard man to beat on a course that is clearly suited to his kind of game

ALL THE FIRST ROUND SCORES
(Par 72)

63 Henrik Stenson (Swe)

68 Rory Sabbatini (RSA)

70 Lee Westwood (Eng)

72 KJ Choi (Kor)

72 Luke Donald (Eng)

72 Sergio Garcia (Spa)

72 Trevor Immelman (RSA)

72 Robert Karlsson (Swe)

72 James Kingston (RSA)

73 Kenny Perry (USA)

73 Justin Rose (Eng)

75 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa)