The duo carded nine-under-par 63s to take a one-shot lead at the top of the leaderboard.

Brown started with a bogey at the first hole before recovering with a birdie at the second and an eagle at the third. He made another eagle at the sixth, followed by a birdie at the ninth, to turn in 31.

After the turn, he birdied the 12th, dropped a shot at the 13th before adding further birdies at the 14th, 16th, 17th and 18th for an inward 32.

“The Telkom PGA Championship is the second-oldest tournament in South Africa. It’s iconic. Just to get to play in it is really nice, and to be playing well is even better. The driver worked well for me today. It’s not a long course, so if you hit it straight you can give yourself a lot of chances from there. So, with driving it well I gave myself a lot of wedge shots which I hit quite well,” said Brown (via the Sunshine Tour).

De Beer, meanwhile, enjoyed a solid start, making a birdie at the second hole before following it up with an eagle at the third and consecutive birdies at the fourth and fifth. He dropped a shot at the seventh but recovered with a birdie at the eighth to also turn in 31.

He then produced a flawless back nine, picking up further birdies at the 10th, 16th, 17th and 18th for an inward 32.

Kieron van Wyk, Deon Germishuys and Tyran Snyders share third place on eight-under-par 64.