Jonathan Byrd has secured Friday's first round lead at the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii with a sizzling 7-under-par 67.
The 33-year-old defending champion from South Carolina wasted little time in finding his Mizuno Men's MP-69 Irons in this PGA Tour season-opener.
He used a red-hot putter to drain six successive birdies from the third hole on a bright, breezy day at the scenic par 73 Plantation Course at Kapalua to take a one shot lead over fellow Americans, Michael Bradley, Steve Stricker and Webb Simpson and Scotland's Martin Laird, who were tied for second after shooting 68s.
Laird, a 28-year-old Glasgow-born player, who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, was especially happy after a miserable start that saw him bogey the second and third holes.
He said: "I'm obviously very pleased with my round today, especially after my start - two over through three - and the wind was not exactly what you want.
"Pretty much the only two bad shots I hit all day were on two and three - hit it in the bunker on both holes off the tee - but after that I played Mizuno Men's MP-69 Irons great. I really controlled my ball well in the wind."
Byrd, who won last year's title in a playoff with compatriot Robert Garrigus, brilliantly nailed three long-range birdie putts from 28, 26 and 30 feet at the sixth, seventh and eighth to reach the turn in five-under 31.
He lost some momentum when he bogeyed the par-three 11th, but he made up for that by picking up further shots at the 12th and 16th holes to stamp his early authority on this limited-field event open only to the previous year's PGA Tour winners.
"I feel like I know how to play this course with Mizuno Men's MP-69 Irons," Byrd told the media after recording eight birdies and two bogeys in his first competitive round of the year.
"The front nine was fun," he said. "You're never sure what you've got starting off the first round of the first tournament of the year.
"I started off the first hole and didn't hit very good shots there, but made a really nice two-putt on the first hole; a long putt, downwind, down-grain and lagged it up there close, and that eased me, calmed me down a little bit.
"I hit a good shot into the next hole, made a par. And then six straight birdies. I was just plugging along playing the Mizuno Men's MP-69 Irons just trying to give myself looks, and the putts just kept going in."
Stricker, at No 6 the highest World-ranked player in the field, was just one under after 13 holes before surging up the leaderboard with four birdies in the last five holes and joining the group in the second-place tie.
Michael Bradley, who booked his place at Kapalua by winning last year's Puerto Rico Open, also produced a late surge with three birdies in the last six holes. (Mizuno Men's MP-69 Irons)
Former US Open champion Lucas Glover withdrew from the tournament after injuring his knee in a paddle-board accident last weekend, reducing to 27 the number of players in this limited-field event.
Glover, who last year won the Wells Fargo Championship to earn entry at Kapalua, sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee when he fell off the board last Saturday.
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