Defending champion Rory Sabbatini shot a weather-delayed, two under par 68 at the HP Byron Nelson Championship but was far from happy with his opening effort in Texas.
South African Sabbatini, who beat Englishman Brian Davis by two strokes 12 months ago, matched his opening round of last year on Thursday with three birdies and a bogey wrapped around a three-and-a-half hour suspension in play that left a large section of the field needing to finish their first rounds on Friday.
Sabbatini is tied for 11th, two behind clubhouse leader Jason Day, who shot an opening 66 at TPC Four Seasons Resort Las Colinas near Dallas, fellow Australians Jarrod Lyle and Steve Elkington and Americans Jay Williamson and Hunter Mahan joining Day on four under but still to finish their rounds.
Four days on from compatriot Adam Scott's victory at the Valero Texas Open, 22 year old Queenslander Day was one of eight Australians in the top 20 when play was halted due to bad light.
The five leaders have a one shot lead over American Dustin Johnson, who shot a 67, and five others yet to finish including Aussies Marc Leishman and Nathan Green, with Sabbatini one of 13 players two shots back in a tie for 11th.
The South African, though, was annoyed at his less than accurate play which saw him find just three of 14 fairways off the tee and ten of 18 greens in regulation.
"A pretty dismal round of golf," Sabbatini said. "I didn't hit many fairways and missed a few greens and wore my short game out there.
"Made things tough on myself and kept it interesting, but I managed to scramble around and get in the clubhouse with two under, so I didn't do any damage."
Sabbatini added: "Anybody watching would have been completely baffled as to how I shot two under," but the answer to the puzzle was a solid round with the putter, Sabbatini needing only 26 putts, and some excellent scrambling.
Overnight leader Day's opening round saw him card six birdies and two bogeys on his way to a four under 66, while Johnson had an eagle on his scorecard after a three at the par five seventh.
England's Greg Owen was the leading European in the field at level par after 11 holes with Norway's Henrik Bjornstad finished at one over and Germany's Alex Cejka on the same mark after ten holes.
Last year's runner-up Davis and Scotland's Martin Laird are at two over and among those unable to finish their first rounds and due back at the course for an 7:15am local time (1:15pm British time) restart with the second round set to get under way two hours later.
