Hansen in blistering form

Dane Anders Hansen was in blistering form at the dunhill Challenge as he led British challengers David Lynn, Lee Westwood and Alan McLean in Johannesburg today.

Hansen, who only recently rediscovered his love for the game again after coming close to giving it up, carded seven birdies in 14 holes to head the leaderboard on seven under par.

Teeing off on the 10th, Hansen was quiet on the first six holes, grabbing a birdie on the par-three third before two more on the 16th and 18th to reach the turn on three under.

He then birdied four of the next five holes to grab the lead, displaying the kind of form which saw him involved in a six-way play-off for the title here last year, and then went on to close out his round with four pars.

Lynn found the course similarly easy as he moved to five under for third place - just behind France’s Raphael Jacquelin – while Westwood was also very much in the hunt with a round of 68.

South African Steve van Vuuren birdied the first five holes in a row before dropping shots on 12 and 14 to negate a further birdie on the back nine which moved him back to four under.

England’s Lewis Atkinson retired from the tournament after hurting his neck during his round.

Atkinson, who teed off at the 10th hole, completed nine holes in seven-over 43 before informing tournament officials that he could not carry on.

Jacquelin posted a solitary bogey as he revelled in the rainy conditions, shooting seven birdies to be a shot behind Hansen on the leaderboard at six under.