Deon Germishuys changed putter and his putting style, and it paid off handsomely on Wednesday as he carded an eight-under-par 64 to take the first-round lead of the Sunshine Tour’s Time Square Casino Challenge at Wingate Park Country Club.

He went bogey-free, picking up his first birdie on the par-five second, and then he made sure he birdied each of the other par-fives as well as he racked up eight birdies in today on a day when the two next best players, Malcolm Mitchell and Anton Haig each dropped one shot as they signed for seven-under 65s.

“I changed to the armlock grip on Monday,” said Germishuys, “and I also changed to a Cleveland putter, and, even though the greens were difficult for me to read, I found them nice and quick and good to putt on.”

He left himself with a number of short putts which helped his cause too, but it was the par-fives which gave him the advantage on the day. “I reached all of them in two,” he said, “which left me two putts for birdie each time.

“I’ve been comfortable with my game since the Sunshine Tour’s restart. I really feel like I’m getting close to where I want to be. I’m confident with my golf, and I’m really excited for the three big events to come,” he said.

One behind Haig and Mitchell in second was Keenan Davidse, who carded a six-under 66, and, after two consecutive top-10 finishes in the last two tournaments, will be in search of his first professional victory.

For Germishuys, it will be a question of repeating the dose in the second round. “I won’t change anything,” he said. “Everything is working just fine.”