Colombia's Camilo Villegas and David Toms of the United States are deadlocked at the top of the leaderboard after round one of the PGA Tour’s Humana Challenge.
Both players carded nine-under-par first rounds of 63 for their share of a one-stroke lead at La Quinta Country Club in California, with four further players just one shot back at the end of Thursday’s opening salvos at the three-course event.
Villegas played a flawless round that began with two birdies on the Nicklaus course as he commenced his round on the back nine. Three more back-to-back saved shots from 14 saw him go into the turn already five-under-par and he almost doubled that effort by saving four more shots between the first and the eighth, before calmly parring at nine.
Toms, meanwhile, sank four birdies in succession from the fifth to the eighth on the La Quinta course, as he also went around without a bogey. Five more successes followed, including one at the last, as he secured his portion of the first day advantage.
Brandt Snedeker joins fellow Americans Bob Estes and Ted Potter Jr on eight-under after his round of 64. Japanese player Sang-Moon Bae also signed for that score, while Australian Matthew Goggin was the best performer on the Palmer course as he joined six other players on a tally of seven-under.
Gary Christian, on -6, was the best-placed Englishman, but Phil Mickelson is a daunting 11 shots off the lead after a two-under 74 that brought with it a double bogey at 10 and a triple bogey at 14.
After completing his round, joint-leader Toms told the PGA Tour: "It was a good day. I've always thought that La Quinta Country Club is one of the tougher courses in the rotation because the greens are fairly firm and it's a tight golf course.
"But the golf course is in such good shape that if you had birdie putts you could really start to make them, and that's what I did today.
"I had a lot of opportunities. I made a couple of long putts but I kept the ball in play all day and had a lot of birdie putts."