Séamus Power shot six birdies on Thursday as he opened his account at The American Express in California with a solid five-under 67.
The tournament at La Quinta is being played across three courses - the Jack Nicklaus Tournament course, La Quinta Country Club and the Pete Dye Stadium course.
Power was on the latter course for his opening round. The Waterford man, who finished last week's Sony Open strongly, made his first gain with a birdie on the par-4 second.
Another on the eighth set him up nicely for the back nine, with the next birdie coming on 12.
His sole setback of the day came on 13 with a bogey on the par-3 hole.
But he rallied impressively with three birdies on the trot at 15, 16 and 17 to finish on five under for the day, and five shots off the lead held by the duo of Min-Woo Lee and Pierceson Coody.
At the top of the leaderboard Min Woo Lee of Australia and Pierceson Coody share the first-round lead, while Scottie Scheffler is one off the pace.
Lee and Coody each shot 10-under-par 62 at the Nicklaus Tournament Course to open the tournament. Coody ran off seven birdies in a row on the back nine.
I seem to get going hot whenever it kind of snowballs," Coody said. "So I don't know what it is, I'm not thinking anything different. Yeah, I know that I've rattled off a few like this where I made a bunch in a row and it's kind of just the style of this week."
The players in this week's field will play the first three rounds at three separate courses, one round apiece at the Pete Dye Stadium Course, the Nicklaus Tournament Course and La Quinta Country Club. The cut will come Saturday after 54 holes, with the top 65 and ties advancing to Sunday's round at the Pete Dye Stadium Course.
Lee, 27, earned his first PGA Tour victory last March at the Houston Open.
