Justin Rose today attempted to carry on where he left off last week in the first round of the South African Open.

The 20-year-old, runner-up at Houghton in the Alfred Dunhill Championship in his first European PGA event of the year, moved over from Johannesburg to East London having been given an 11th hour sponsors' invitation.

He had been expecting to have to qualify for the event but found out on Monday that he was in the 156-man field and with a good chance to follow-up his best finish as a professional last Sunday.

The Hampshire golfer carded a 20-under-par total at Houghton and only lost by one stroke in a thrilling battle with eventual winner and fellow 20-year-old Adam Scott.

That performance earned Rose £57,500 - almost as much as he won in the whole of last season - and with it a sponsor's invitation to East London.

And the Hampshire professional was making the most of his opportunity with another good display on the tough, hilly course.

Starting on the ninth due to the course layout, Rose opened with four straight pars before birdies on the 13th and 15th took him to the turn in 34, two under par.

His first real problem came at the tricky par three second where he suffered his first bogey of the day.

Rose showed his resilience by bouncing straight back with a birdie four at the next par five hole.

At Houghton last week Rose tried a new putting technique with his left hand below his right.

It seemed to work then, but his old putting problems came back to haunt him over the finishing stretch at East London where two three-putts sent him back to level par for the day.

Rose's disappointment was nothing compared to Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke, who finished second to Lee Westwood in last year's Order of Merit.

Clarke gave last week's Alfred Dunhill Championship a miss, but he looked rusty today and suffered a nightmare at the third hole where Rose had earlier enjoyed a birdie.

Clarke suffered a triple bogey eight and the Ulsterman needed a birdie at the last to finish with a four-over-par 77.

South African Hennie Otto had his eyes on a home win, setting a hot first round pace with a seven-under-par 65.

It left him one shot ahead of Spain's former Ryder Cup man Ignacio Garrido.