Raitt was a surprise name at the top of the leaderboard

R1 LEADERBOARD
(SA unless stated):
-5 E Els, T Immelman, A Raitt (GB), C Suneson (Spa)
-4 P Sjoland (Swe), D Terblanche, L Westwood (GB)
-3 F Andersson Hed (swe), G Davies (GB), P Edberg (swe), R Goosen, J Kamte, J Kingston, A McLean (GB)

England's Andrew Raitt shared the lead with home favourites Ernie Els and Trevor Immelman after a dramatic first round of the SAA Open in South Africa.

Spain's Carl Suneson also shot a 67 to join the group on five under, while England's Lee Westwood is one shot back with Patrik Sjoland and Des Terblanche.

Defending champion Retief Goosen fell back after taking 11 shots on the 17th.

Els said: "I'll take 67 today because the wind was enough to make this a really tough test."

Raitt is back on tour after a horrendous decade following an accident in 1995, when a dog bit part of the little finger of his left hand off, leading to several operations and an unsuccessful legal battle to try and gain compensation for loss of earnings.

It was tricky out there Lee Westwood

Els, meanwhile, went into this week hoping to preserve a remarkable record that stretches back to 1991.

The 37-year-old South African has won at least one title every year between 1991 to 2005 but is still searching for his first victory in 2006.

Els, who had started his round at the 10th, played his last five holes in three under with a birdie at the par-four fifth, another one at the tricky par-three sixth, and an eagle three at the long seventh.

Westwood, who returned last week from eight weeks on the sidelines, continued to be troubled by his back injury.

He said: "It was tricky out there.

"I've had ice on it the whole time. It spasms up a lot, and I can't really turn very well at the moment."

But Westwood is not blaming his new fitness regime, which has seen him lose a stone-and-a-half over the past eight weeks.

Goosen was eight under through 16 holes but hit two drives into the bush at 17, losing the first and taking an unplayable lie with the second.

The three-time major winner took a drop under penalty but thought it was an illegal drop, so picked up the ball and dropped again in a different spot.

But in fact the ball was in play after the first drop - so he incurred a two-shot penalty, leading to the horrendous sextuple-bogey.