Lawrie's red hot in South African sun

Paul Lawrie’s blistering start matched the soaring temperatures in the first round of the dunhill Championship in Johannesburg this morning.

The mercury was already touching 90 degrees at 10am at Houghton Golf Club, with even higher temperatures predicted for the later starters.

Lawrie was among those making the most of an early start, the former Open champion teeing off in the third match out at 6.50am.

And despite opening with a bogey five on the 10th, his first hole, the Scot was soon charging to the top of the leaderboard with a brilliant scoring burst.

A birdie on the 11th immediately repaired the damage of the opening hole, and five more followed in the next six holes to take the 34-year-old from Aberdeen to the turn in 31.

That was only good enough for a one-shot lead, however, with the players finding birdies easier to come by at Houghton than in last week’s event in Cape Town.

Welshman Stephen Dodd, England’s Paul Casey, South African Callie Swart and Spain’s Eduardo de la Riva were all four under, with a further five players another shot back.

Lee Westwood was not one of those in red figures as the former European number one continued to struggle to recapture his best form.

Westwood, who will fly to Florida after the tournament to consult new coach David Leadbetter in a bid to arrest his slump, was one over for 12 holes after carding three bogeys and two birdies in an outward half of 37.