Dan Bradbury believes his stellar form in South Africa is down to a local delicacy as he held a share of the four-way clubhouse lead after the first round at the 2023 Nedbank Golf Challenge.
The 24-year-old is enjoying his maiden campaign on the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex and he has already been in the winner's enclosure in his short career.
He claimed an impressive wire-to-wire victory at the Joburg Open last year, in what was only his third start as a professional, and has continued that form throughout the season to sit in 48th place in the Race to Dubai rankings.
Bradbury clearly feels at home in South Africa as he carded an opening 66 to sit alongside Ryder Cup stars Nicolai Højgaard and Max Homa, as well as Sweden's Vincent Norrman at six under par at Gary Player Country Club.
He briefly held the lead after six holes when the Englishman made birdies at the tenth, 13th, 14th and 15th, but fell back into a leadership group of nine when dropping his only shot of the day at the 16th.
Bradbury tapped in a birdie to climb to four under before holing a monster 75-foot putt at the ninth - his last - for an eagle three to join Højgaard as joint clubhouse leader.
How it stands after the first round at Sun City 📊#NGC2023 pic.twitter.com/IQwcNfhVPS
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 9, 2023
"I don't really know, I think it's the steaks every night to be honest, that's my diet out here, but it's a lovely place, lovely weather and lovely people so I enjoy it," Bradbury said.
"Just a very solid day. Got off to a good start, a few birdies early on and dropped one, which kind of annoyed me, so I had a bit of a point to prove after that, and obviously that finish was quite nice.
"Everybody talks about the wind, and we noticed that a few times today, it was swirling. It completely changes in the space of two minutes, but luckily today there was not much of it so we got away with that.
"If you just hit fairways, because of the altitude it doesn't play that long, so you give yourself a lot of chances."
Norrman, who is playing for the first time in Sun City, was flawless during his 66 to continue his recent brilliant form, which has yielded his maiden two DP World Tour titles - the Barbosol Championship in July and the Horizon Irish Open in September.
The Swede picked up his first shot at the sixth from eight feet before successive birdies at the turn saw him move into contention.
Norrman rattled in back-to-back gains from the 13th to sit one adrift of the leading duo of Højgaard and Bradbury and when he holed his birdie effort from 18ft at the 16th, he was co-leader.
"It was a lot of fun out there. It got pretty hot, but really enjoyed this place," Norrman said.
"I feel like if you stay aggressive off the tee, hit a lot of drivers and if you hit a lot of fairways then you have plenty of chances. It's quite tight in certain spots, but we hit it good off the tee today. I think just play aggressive and see what happens.
On his strong recent form, he added: "I don't know, finally pieces are building together, it's been a good run and I seem to enjoy Europe a lot. I'm quite a calm guy and I enjoy playing golf."
