Séamus Power carded a one-over 72 at the opening round of Valspar Championship after struggling on his back nine at Innisbrook Resort.
The 39-year-old, who began his round at the 10th, started off with five successive pars before three-putting his way to a bogey at 15.
A birdie at the par-3 17th was followed by his round highlight, a 52ft birdie putt at 18. The Waterford native went within a whisker of another big putt when his 47ft attempt at the first was inches off a third successive birdie.
From there however things took a turn. Power ran into trouble at the greenside bunker at the second on route to a bogey, and that was compounded by further dropped shots at the third and fourth.
After safely finding the fairway at the par-5 fifth, a controlled approach shot opened up a birdie opportunity. That shot was given back at his penultimate hole of the afternoon, the 400-yard seventh when a wayward tee shot left of the fairway gave him too much to do.
He closed for a one-over 72, eight shots adrift of clubhouse leader Sungjae Im of South Korea whose round included a pair of eagles, half a dozen birdies and bogeys in two of his final three holes.
Brandt Snedeker is one back after a bogey-free 65, turning a sponsor exemption into an early statement.
Davis Thompson sits in third at 66, while Billy Horschel, Andrew Putnam and Pierceson Coody are tied for fourth with matching 67s.
Ten players, including Xander Schauffele and England's Matt Fitzpatrick, share seventh place at 68.
Im missed the start of this season due to a wrist injury, finally returning to action at the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this month. He missed the cut there and at The Players Championship, making his Thursday surge a surprise.
Im opened his round on the 10th hole and was 4 under through his first three holes, including an eagle on the par-5 11th. He started his second nine with another eagle on par-5 first hole, then added birdies on two of the next four holes, but he bogeyed two of his last four.
"I had a very good start," said Im, whose only two PGA Tour wins came in 2020 and 2021. "... I did not have very good starts the last few months. After last week, I really felt like I had to refine some techniques and I was able to focus on specific techniques, and I refined it and for this weekend I feel like that's a really good outcome."
