South Africa’s lone representative at the Sony Open, Dylan Frittelli, made a good start to his 2019 PGA Tour season with an opening 67 in Honolulu.

Frittelli shook off any concerns of rust over the festive season break as he found 12 of 14 fairways during the first round.

The two-time European Tour winner lies in share of 17th place but trails Canada’s Adam Svensson by six with Andrew Putnam one back and veteran pro Matt Kuchar two behind through 18 holes.

Frittelli found 14 greens in regulation on Thursday and had his putter working early after birdies from range on the 13th and 14th holes. Efforts from 23 and 15 feet found the bottom of the cup as he quickly moved to two under par.

A two-putt birdie on the 18th helped Frittelli make the turn in three under and stayed on that number thanks to a chip in on the first.

A rare green in regulation miss on the second saw the 28-year-old, born in Johannesburg but varsity educated in Texas where he now lives, drop his first shot of the day.

A nightmare three-putt on the par 3 7th saw Frittelli surrender another stroke before he finished in fine style as he made light work of the par 5 9th. He calmly rolled in his eagle putt from inside eight feet to share 17th place with Justin Thomas, Marc Leishman and defending champion Patton Kizzire.

Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images