Vijay Singh will take a one shot lead into the second round of the US PGA Tour Greenbrier Classic after firing a seven under par 63 in West Virginia on Thursday.
The 49 year old Fijian took advantage of the perfect morning conditions, picking up eight birdies and only one bogey, en route to his best round in four years.
He finished one stroke ahead of American trio Jeff Maggert, Martin Flores and Jonathan Byrd, with US Open Champion Webb Simpson, Alfred Dunhill Championship winner Garth Mulroy and Argentina’s Andres Romero among a group a further shot back.
It was not such a good day for Simpson's playing partner Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson, though. Both players signed for one over par 71s.
It marked a distinct turnaround in fortunes for Singh, who carded an 81 in his last round - the final round of the AT&T National on Sunday.
"Gosh, I don't know where that came from," he said soon after reeling off four straight birdies to close his round. "I've been playing pretty good golf for a while, but just never got any scoring going.
"But today it seemed I hit it close and drove the ball really well, hit a lot of greens and made some nice putts."
He added: "Hopefully it keeps going. I don't feel tired. I feel really energised. I've been working really hard on my game, so it's nice to see something happen."
Woods headed into this event buoyed by victory at Congressional last weekend - his third win of the season and fourth in seven months - and seeking back-to-back top-ten US PGA Tour finishes for the first time since the start of 2010.
But he struggled with his putter and found himself eight shots off the pace after the first round of his final tournament before The Open in a fortnight.
"I was a little bit off with my game, and on top of that I didn't have the speed of these greens at all," the 14-time Major winner said. "I missed literally every single putt high today."
