Maybin and Lawrie start in the red in South Africa

Glendower Golf Club

They might have lost their tour cards in 2014 but Gareth Maybin and Peter Lawrie started the year in positive fashion with one under par 71s in the South African Open Championship in Johannesburg.

While both made a string of errors, they also made plenty of birdies to lie just five strokes behind leaders Jbe Kruger of South Africa and England's Andy Sullivan at Glendower Golf Club.

Maybin posted six birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey six at the ninth hole to end the day in a tie for 26th position alongside Lawrie, playing on a sponsors'  invitation, who had five birdies and four bogeys on his card.

Both men lost their cards at the end of the 2014 season and failed to win back their full playing rights at November's Qualifying School Final Stage.

Kruger andSullivan lead on six under from South Africans Ernie Els and Richard Sterne and Dane Lasse Jensen in a field featuring six of the world's Top 100 - Charl Schwartzel (68), Els (67), George Coetzee (70), Branden Grace (71) and Sterne (67).