Blomstrand, Cantero Gutierrez grab early Cape Town Open lead

The Challenge Tour golfers dominated the leaderboard after Thursday's opening round of the Cape Town Open with several South Africans lurking behind.

Sweden's Christofer Blomstrand and Spain's Ivan Cantero Gutierrez led the field with their rounds of seven-under-par 65, scored at Rondebosch Golf Club and Royal Cape Golf Club, respectively.

The tournament's first two rounds are shared on both courses, with the final two rounds set to be played solely at Royal Cape Golf Club.

South Africa's Louis de Jager finished the day one shot off the lead alongside Italy's Matteo Manassero and Ireland's Paul Dunne.

South Africans Zander Lombard, Neil Schietekat, Ulrich van den Berg, Keenan Davidse, Dylan Naidoo and Nikhil Rama are some of the 11 golfers, who are three shots off the pace.

Meanwhile, defending champion JC Ritchie is four shots off the lead.

In the previous nine editions of the Cape Town Open, European golfers have triumphed on only two occasions.

Lombard, who shot a round of 68 at Royal Cape, is in a good position and hopes to go one better than his second place in Cape Town in 2019.

"I was really solid, barring the double bogey on 14, which broke my momentum a bit. But I'm really looking forward to what the rest of the week has in store for me. I love Royal Cape. I've always done well here."

Lombard will take on Rondebosch Golf Club on Friday, where he'll look to position himself well for the weekend.

"My golf has been good for three months now, and this game is all about confidence. I'm riding the wave and seeing what I can do with it. I've been doing a lot of maintenance on all aspects of my game to keep everything sharp," said Lombard.

"It felt like my pre-season training was good. I did a lot of gym work and got the body in