American Bill Haas has a two-shot lead at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte after shooting eight-under 64 on Friday, while Australian Stuart Appleby is among a group lurking four shots off the pace.
Haas, who has not finished in the top 25 in a tournament in his last six starts, hit a bogey-free round which included eight birdies, including four in his opening six holes on the back nine.
Haas, playing in his native South Carolina, heads American duo Jonathan Byrd and David Toms by two strokes, with Lucas Glover and Pat Perez a further shot back.
Haas putted just 23 times throughout the day in a classy exhibition, and enjoyed his round at the course where his father Jay, a former professional player, is a member.
"I've got a little bit of a feel for this place, maybe more than some of the guys. Hopefully I didn't make all the putts today and saved some for the weekend," Haas said.
Byrd fired seven birdies and just one bogey in his round of 66, while Toms fired an eagle on the seventh hole in the highlight of his round.
Glover could have joined Haas at the top of the leaderboard after he shot eight birdies but he could not match the leader's consistency, hitting three bogeys, while Perez went one better and hit an amazing nine birdies, albeit with four bogeys, in his score of 67.
A group of five players, comprising of Appleby, Rickie Fowler, Jim Herman, Carl Pettersson and Vijay Singh, are all four shots off the lead as they shot four-under 68 to round out the top 10.
World No.4 Phil Mickelson is a further shot back after he carded a three-under 69 while world No.2 Martin Kaymer shot two-under 70.
Several players struggled on day one, with world No.8 Paul Casey hitting 78, matched by Arnold Palmer Invitational 2011 winner Martin Laird of Scotland.
Camilo Villegas, Jhonattan Vegas, Brendon de Jonge and Rory McIlroy also struggled, with the quartet hitting scores of 75.