Just trying to get through his round in the rain in the opening round of the R2.65-million Vodacom Championship helped Thomas Aiken keep his mind on golf as he shared the early lead with a seven-under-par 65.

He shared the clubhouse lead on a rainy day at Pretoria Country Club with Hennie Otto, who went nine-under for his last 13 holes to more than adequately atone for his double bogey on the par-four 13th after starting on the 10th.

“When it’s raining you kind of don’t think of your score much,” said Aiken. “You just get out there and get the job done and I think it helped quite a bit because the last couple of weeks have been a bit frustrating for me.”

It was good enough to give him a bogey-free round and make him look like the Aiken who was in contention for the Africa Open at the beginning of January.

“Quite a lot of things have been going on in my mind lately,” he explained. “Also, this is my ninth week in a row, so a little bit of fatigue doesn’t do your mind wonders. It helped when it was pouring with rain not to think about my score. It just shows the mind’s a strong thing.”

While Aiken has been more accurate this year, hitting more greens than he did for most of last year, his putting has been a weak link.

“Today was a little better: 27 putts, and it’s the first time I’ve broken 30 in a while so it’s a step in the right direction and it shows on the scorecard,” he said.

Otto started quietly, but pulled his drive right on 13. “That’s the one place you don’t want to be,” he said.

He took the resultant bogey and responded with three birdies and an eagle from the 15th to the 18th.

He made four more on his way in for his 65.

Doug McGuigan was one shot behind the leading pair with his six-under 66, with Ryan Thompson and Stuart Clark of Wales on 67.