Shane Lowry carded a three-under-par 68 to trail clubhouse leader Justin Thomas by seven shots after the opening round of the RBC Heritage in South Carolina on Thursday.
Lowry enjoyed a solid start after finishing tied for 42nd at the Masters on Sunday.
The Offaly man birdied the par-five second before immediately bogeying the following hole.
However, further birdies on five and six helped him bounce back quickly.
On the back nine, Lowry had a much quieter time of it but did manage a birdie on another par-five as he reached three under on the 15th, recording pars on the final three holes.
Thomas sizzled to a 61 and sits atop the leaderboard after registering 11 birdies and a solitary bogey.
World number one and defending champion Scottie Scheffler and compatriot Russell Henley share second on seven under.
Indeed, Thomas could have had an even better round than the impressive effort he did manage to pull off in the end.
The two-time major winner missed a five-and-a-half foot putt right of the hole for a record-setting 60 after dropping in a series of shots with the short stick from substantial distance. Thomas took par at 18.
"I just played really solid," Thomas said.
"I feel like I didn't do anything crazy. I just drove the ball well, which is very, very important out here, and I felt like it was just one of those days I put the ball in a spot that I had a lot of good numbers.
"I had a lot of kind of full wedges to where - although you have to be a little conservative at times out here, I felt like they were kind of pins and angles and everything that I could be a little aggressive and just kind of got rolling with it."
Thomas rated his second shot, an 8-iron into the 18th green, as his best shot of a round with plenty of options to choose from.
He got himself within striking distance of the record with a birdie putt from 38 feet on the par-3 17th before his missed putt at the last, which was still good for the lowest opening-round score in RBC Heritage history.
Additional reporting: Reuters
