Defending champion Ernie Els wilted as temperatures soared into the mid-30s on a scorching afternoon on the first day of the Mercedes Benz/Vodacom South African Open in Stellenbosch. The two-time U.S. Open champion was one under at the turn but immediately dropped shots at the tenth and 11th to shoot a level par 71 to be four shots off the lead. "I'm not totally satisfied but it could have been worse," said Els. "It's a tough course, particularly in the afternoons."

America's Ronnie McCann, Ian Garbutt of England and Germany's Sven Struver shot 67s for a three-way share of the lead after teeing off in gentler morning conditions. Only eight players beat par in the afternoon compared to double that number in the morning.

Six time major winner Nick Faldo was out at 7:10 and praised the conditions. After missing the cut by six shots in the South African PGA a week ago, Faldo produced two birdies in the back nine to finish on 70, one under par. "I hit some good shots but it's frustrating." said Faldo. "You hit a perfect two iron and the next hole you're chopping it up the fairway. "Everything was perfect with the course - par today was 68 max. Ernie will shoot 65-66."

Els, who played in afternoon temperatures hovering in the mid-30s, scoffed at the suggestion. "You can disregard that comment, I think he was just being nice," said Els. "I would like to see what he says tomorrow afternoon when he has played. "It's a difficult course especially in the afternoons. The greens are really firm and the fairways are getting firmer which makes it difficult to keep it on the fairway. And if you're not making the fairways it's difficult to go at the flags. I bogeyed the eighth after finding the left rough and hitting my second into the bunker and then two putting. That was almost the end of my round - I was never the same after that."

Tied in second place on three under were Germany's Alexander Cejka and South Africa's James Kingston. They were hotly pursued by a group of nine players on two-under par 69s including Ireland's Paul McGinley who was one of two players to shoot a hole-in-one. He claimed his ace at the seventh while England's Tony Wall produced his at the 13th to finish on a two-over par 73. Check out the day one scores and the draw for day two