Goosen makes the most of fast start to lead in South Africa

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Home favourite Retief Goosen and Germany's Alex Cejka shared the lead after the first round of a rain-affected South African Open yesterday with scores of eight-under-par 64 in Durban.

The pair were a shot clear of world No 12 Ernie Els and Charl Schwartzel after their 65s, while Englishman David Dixon was in a group of six players a further shot back on six under. Among them was Spaniard Carlos Del Moral with the rest – Richard Sterne, Jaco Ahlers, Garth Mulroy and Tyrone van Aswegen – all South African.

Ten others, including Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, David Drysdale from Scotland and England's Richard McEvoy, were on five under at Durban Country Club.

Organisers had abandoned play on Thursday less than two and a half hours after the start because constant rain made conditions unplayable. Organisers are planning a cut to 50 after today's second round as they bid to squeeze in 36 holes tomorrow.

Two-time former champion Goosen said: "Obviously, that's the way you want to start. It went nicely for me yesterday, those four holes in the rain when I managed to get two birdies and then on the first this morning I got another one to keep the momentum going.

"Hopefully I can try and start building on this tomorrow afternoon. Then we'll see what happens on Sunday if we play 36 or 18." Cejka, a four-time winner on the European Tour, had a faultless round with his eight birdies split across both nines. "It was a good day," he said. "The practice rounds were not so good for me, but today was excellent. There's still three rounds to go, which is a long, long way. Hopefully I can play well in the next three days."