Séamus Power sits three shots off the lead after an openign round 63 at the RSM Classic at Sea Island.
Playing on the par 70 Seaside Course, the Waterford man carded seven birdies in a flawless, bogey-free round to enter Friday’s action in a tie for tenth position.
A career-best round of 60 gave Columbia’s Sebastian Munoz a one-shot lead in Georgia.
The 28-year-old, whose solitary PGA Tour win came just over two years ago, carded eight birdies and an eagle on his way to equalling the Seaside course record.
He was nine under with three to play — two relatively short par fours and a par three — but could only pick up one of the two shots he needed for a sub-60 round.
But it still put him out in front ahead of Canadian Mackenzie Hughes and the American trio of Scott Stallings, Zach Johnson and Chez Reavie.
South Africa’s Rory Sabbatini was disqualified after his four-under-par 68 round for having a “non-conforming external attachment” on the face of his fairway wood after failing to remove a sticker he had used in practice.
First round scores in the USPGA Tour The RSM Classic
(USA unless stated, Seaside Course Par: 70, Plantation Course Par: 72):
-10 Sebastian Munoz (Col) 60
-9 Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 63, Zach Johnson 61, Chez Reavie 63, Scott Stallings 63
-8 Corey Conners (Can) 62, Talor Gooch 64, Russell Henley 64, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 64
-7 Bill Haas 65, Chesson Hadley 63, Lee Hodges 65, Tom Hoge 65, John Huh 63, Nate Lashley 63, Séamus Power (Irl) 63, Doc Redman 65, Scottie Scheffler 63, Vincent Whaley 65, Mickey DeMorat 63
-6 Jonathan Byrd 64, Brian Gay 64, Brandon Hagy 64, Hank Lebioda 64, Max McGreevy 66, Troy Merritt 66, Taylor Moore 66, Patrick Rodgers 64, Greyson Sigg 64, David Skinns (Eng) 64, Cameron Smith (Aus) 64, J. J. Spaun 64, Dylan Wu 66
-5 Joel Dahmen 65, Michael Gligic (Can) 65, Branden Grace (Rsa) 67, Lanto Griffin 65, Adam Hadwin (Can) 67, Jim Herman 65, Sung-Hoon Kang (Kor) 67, Kurt Kitayama 67, Patton Kizzire 67, Ben Kohles 67, Kelly Kraft 65, Matt Kuchar 65, Adam Long 67, Justin Lower 67, Andrew Novak 67, Justin Rose (Eng) 67, Sam Ryder 65, Austin Smotherman 65, Matt Wallace (Eng) 65, Cameron Young 65, Chris Stroud 67
-4 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 66, Stewart Cink 68, Wyndham Clark 66, Joshua Creel 68, Luke Donald (Eng) 68, Brice Garnett 66, Doug Ghim 66, Brian Harman 66, Kramer Hickok 68, Max Homa 66, Charles Howell III 68, Stephan Jaeger (Ger) 66, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 68, Andrew Landry 68, Luke List 68, Davis Love III 68, Denny McCarthy 66, William McGirt 66, Keith Mitchell 68, Taylor Pendrith (Can) 68, Andrew Putnam 66, Aaron Rai (Eng) 68, Brandt Snedeker 68, Brendan Steele 66, Robert Streb 68, Michael Thompson 66, Brendon Todd 66, David Hearn (Can) 68
-3 Paul Barjon (Fra) 69, Keegan Bradley 67, Hayden Buckley 67, Bronson Burgoon 67, Harris English 69, Chris Kirk 67, Russell Knox (Sco) 67, Danny Lee (Nzl) 69, David Lipsky 67, Tyler McCumber 69, Trey Mullinax 67, Matthew NeSmith 67, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 67, Guillermo Mito Pereira (Chi) 67, Scott Piercy 69, Davis Riley 67, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 67, Adam Scott (Aus) 67, Webb Simpson 69, Roger Sloan (Can) 67, Alex Smalley 67 Brian Stuard 69, Ryan Armour 67
-2 Jason Day (Aus) 70, Tyler Duncan 70, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 68, Scott Gutschewski 68, Matt Jones (Aus) 68, Peter Malnati 68, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 68, Henrik Norlander (Swe) 68, Seth Reeves 70, Kyle Stanley 70, Sepp Straka (Aut) 68, Kevin Streelman 68, Sahith Theegala 70, Kevin Tway 70, Dawie van der Walt (Rsa) 70, Camilo Villegas (Col) 70, Jared Wolfe 68
-1 Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 69, Lucas Glover 71, J. P. Griffin 71, Nick Hardy 69, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 69, Adam Svensson (Can) 71, Davis Thompson 71, Peter Uihlein 71, Jimmy Walker 69, Nick Watney 71, Richy Werenski 71, D. J. Trahan 71, Carl Yuan (Chn) 71
0 Ludvig Aaberg (Swe) 72, Brett Drewitt (Aus) 72, Harry Higgs 70, Hudson Swafford 72, Callum Tarren (Eng) 70, Martin Trainer 70
+1Joseph Bramlett 71, Cameron Davis (Aus) 73, Alexander Noren (Swe) 71, J. T. Poston 71, Cha Ramey 73, Vaughn Taylor 73, Curtis Thompson 73, Brandon Wu 73, Chun-Ant Yu (Tai) 71, Kyle Wilshire 73
+2 Ben Crane 74
+3 Austin Cook 73
+4 Kevin Kisner 76
+5 Jonas Blixt (Swe) 77
