Seamus Power surged into the top five at the Farmers Insurance Open after a seven-under-par 65 on the South Course at Torrey Pines.
In a stellar putting display, the Waterford golfer registered eight birdies, including on all four par-threes, finishing with three on the trot to sit tied-fifth overnight.
He is three strokes adrift of Justin Rose, who posted a blistering 10-under round of 62 on the North Course.
With the field evenly split between their opening round on the North Course and the South Course, Power posted the lowest score on the more difficult South Course, one shot better than America's Max McGreevy, with the vast majority of the low scores on Thursday recorded on the North Course.
Power's mastery of the short holes was evident early, when he sank a nine-foot birdie on the third. His sole bogey of the round followed on the fourth but he bounced back with birdies on the sixth and eighth holes, the latter another par-three.
He hit his groove around the turn, with successive birdies on 10th and the short 11th. Four successive pars followed before a whirlwind finish, Power draining three birdies putts on the 16th, 17th and 18th holes to post the strongest score on the more difficult South Course.
He struck only 26 putts on Thursday and became only the fifth player to birdie all four par-threes on the course since 1983.
"I scored well today, I putted very, very well," Power told US TV after his round. "Any time you break 70 around that course, you're doing a lot of good things. Very happy with the start and hopefully I can get after it tomorrow and continue it on the North [Course].
"It's been a strange couple of years for me. I was saying before the Sony [Open] that it was the first year in three years I was actually able to practice in the off-season, just with injuries and all that kind of stuff. It was great to come out and feel my game is already in a good spot, instead of trying to find it out here."
Power, a two-time winner on tour, lost his full PGA Tour card after an injury-hit 2025 campaign but a strong finish to the year saw him secure conditional PGA Tour status, which should entitle him to play around 20 tournaments on tour in 2026.
European Ryder Cup hero Rose holds a one-shot lead on 10-under, racking up 10 birdies in a blemish-free round, missing a short birdie putt on the last hole to tie the course record.
He leads by one stroke from Justin Lower, whose 63 contained two eagles, while former Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama and Max Greyserman share third on eight-under.
Joining Power in tied-fifth are Maverick McNealy and Stephan Jaeger.
Brooks Koepka laboured through an opening round of 73 on what proved a low-key return to the PGA Tour.
After Koepka agreed a release from his contract with the Saudi breakaway LIV Golf series a year early at the end of the 2025 season, the PGA Tour subsequently then introduced a hastily-written Returning Members Programme to accommodate the five-time major winner back into the fold.
Starting on the South Course, Koepka, who had joined LIV Golf in 2022, made three pars before dropping a shot on the fourth and was not able to land a birdie chance on the ninth as he headed into the turn at one over.
Koepka overshot the green on the par-five 13th which resulted in another bogey and then narrowly missed a birdie opportunity on the par-three 16th before sinking his fourth shot on the final hole to sign for a one-over round.
A difficult up-and-down ends with Brooks' first birdie.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 29, 2026
It's an opening 73 for Koepka in his return to the PGA TOUR. pic.twitter.com/xbvaGj7WCT
"I felt like it was pretty good," Koepka told reporters. "I didn't hit enough fairways and didn’t really make any putts besides 18.
"(But) it felt good. It has been a while since I played competitive golf, so I like the way I am playing. I just need to kind of play my way into it."
