Defending Champion Vijay Singh got off to the perfect start at the Houston Open bagging an opening-round eight-under-par 64.
The world's number two, Singh leads Australians Gavin Coles and Brendan Jones by one shot and a group of eight by two shots.
Singh fired eight birdies in a bogey-free round. Starting on the back nine of the 7,508-yard Redstone Golf Club course, he birdied the 12th and reeled off three consecutive birdies starting at the 15th.
On his final nine, Singh recorded four more birdies to card his best round here - and 10 shots better than his opening round from last year, when he stormed back to win.
"It sets up for longer hitters if you are hitting the ball straight," said Singh, who shares the tournament record. "Today was a great example. I drove the ball pretty straight and pretty long. When you do that, you have a lot of looks at the holes for birdies."
An Australia native, Coles fired four sets of back-to-back birdies, and only a bogey on the par-four 16th kept him from sharing the lead.
Jones bogeyed his first hole before recording eight birdies. He started a three-birdie run at the 13th and fired five birdies on his back nine, including the eighth and ninth.
Ireland's Darren Clarke is seven shots off the pace on one-under-par after his round of 71. Clarke claimed just one birdie - on the twelfth hole - but managed to avoid any bogeys.
