List, the 26-year-old Perth player who was born to an Australian father and Ghanaian mother, learned to play the game in Ghana's capital Accra, beginning his career at a golf club where there was no driving range, rough fairways and sand greens.

As his career has flourished, the DP World Tour rookie recently made his PGA Tour debut too at the Genesis Invitational thanks to an invitation from Tiger Woods via a Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption, gifted to a player considered to be advancing golf's diversity.

The well-travelled Aussie, who's also lived in the U.S and England, has also established the Danny List Foundation which runs youth programs, encourages player development and does community outreach work in Ghana.

"I really wish I could have both flags [Ghanaian and Australian, to play under]," he told the DP World tour website earlier this week. 

"I am immensely proud to be from both places. If I could represent both, I would."

He's hoping to make great strides on the DP World Tour, with this week's outing at the Houghton Golf Club in Johannesburg offering a golden opportunity on the continent where he is considered a golfing pioneer.

He opened up with five birdies and a bogey in his four-under round of 66 that leaves him just three off the first-round lead, shared by England's Jordan Smith and  China's Wenyi Ding, neither of whom recorded a bogey in their 63s.

Englishmen Marco Penge and Callum Tarren, South Africans Malcolm Mitchell and Jayden Schaper and German Nicolai von Dellingshausen made up a five-way tie for third, a shot behind the leaders.

Tied in a logjam for 17th place, List is making just his eighth start on the European circuit and is now in a good position to make his first cut.