Seamus Power is three shots off the clubhouse lead after an opening-round 70 at the PGA Tour's Valspar Championship, one shot better off than compatriot Shane Lowry.
The Waterford native, who began at the 10th, immediately rectified a dropped shot at 16 with a birdie at the par-3 17th.
Further birdies at the first and fifth at Innisbrook Resort's Copperhead Course in Florida had the 38-year-old up to two-under, but a closing bogey meant he had to settle for a one-under-par 70 and a tie for 23rd.
Lowry began brightly, picking up a shot at the first. After a three-putt at the fifth, he closed out the front nine with a birdie at the ninth, the foundations of which were laid with a superb approach shot landing him to within nine feet of the flag.
The back nine was relatively uneventful aside from a bogey at 17 to finish for level-par 71, with both Irish players unaffected when first-round play was suspended.
Ten players had yet to finish their rounds when the horn blew due to darkness. They'll finish their rounds this morning.
Players' Championship winner Rory McIlroy is sitting out the tournament.
Former PGA Tour winners Keith Mitchell and German Stephan Jaeger were among the five co-leaders when first-round play was suspended in Palm Harbor.
Mitchell, Jaeger, Jacob Bridgeman, Ricky Castillo and Finland's Sami Valimaki shot rounds of four-under-par 67. Three players were one off the pace: Ryan Fox of New Zealand, Nico Echavarria of Colombia and Nick Hardy.
Jaeger earned his maiden PGA Tour victory last year at the Houston Open. Mitchell won the 2019 Honda Classic and has been hunting for a follow-up title ever since.
Mitchell was in great position at the Valspar last year, when he held the lead after three rounds. However, a final-round 77 pushed him back to a tie for 17th.
"I still think about it," Mitchell said.
"It's still definitely in the back of my mind and I want it to stay there for hopefully for the rest of my career to just motivate me to remember what it feels like when you let those kind of nerves get in your way.
"A round like today feels like the opposite of that."
Additional reporting: Reuters
