Ireland’s Séamus Power got his PGA Tour season off to a mixed start with a one under par round of 71 as tour debutant Sepp Straka took a one-shot lead on the first day of the Safeway Open with a clean nine-under 63.
Just four days after the end of the Ryder Cup the new PGA Tour season is up and running and Power, who held onto his card by the skin of his teeth at the end of last season, will have some work to do on Friday to make the cut.
It was an up and down round for the Waterford man with a bogey at the fourth followed by an eagle at the fifth. Another bogey at the eighth was again answered back to at the very next hole with a birdie while three bogeys in four holes round the turn threatened to derail the round.
However, three consecutive birdies to finish got him back under par to sign for a 71, eight off the lead.
Austrian Straka led fellow rookie Chase Wright of the US in second, while Ryder Cup loser Phil Mickelson sat two shots off the pace in third at the Silverado Resort in Napa Valley, California.
Straka, who earned his PGA card after finishing in third at the Web.com Tour Championship in September, hit nine of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens.
The Vienna-born 25-year-old picked up five shots by the 13th and hit back-to-back birdies from the 16th back to the clubhouse.
Putting defeat in France behind him, Mickelson shot a blemish-free round of 65 as the 2018/19 season got under way.
The three-time Masters champion fired off six of his seven birdies consecutively from the ninth.
Scotland’s Martin Laird was four shots off the lead after carding a 67.
Collated first round scores in the Safeway Open, Silverado Resort and Spa, United States of America (USA unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72):
63 Sepp Straka (Aut)
64 Chase Wright
65 Phil Mickelson
66 JT Poston, Sam Saunders, Alex Prugh, Wyndham Clark, Adam Long, Mackenzie Hughes (Can), Brandt Snedeker, Sungjae Imn (Kor)
67 Adam Schenk, Roger Sloan (Can), (a) Kyle Jones, Brendan Steele, Richy Werenski, Martin Laird (Sco), Dylan Frittelli (Rsa), Jonathan Byrd, Troy Merritt, Ryan Moore
68 Peter Malnati, Hudson Swafford, Nate Lashley, Kevin Streelman, Julian Etulain (Arg), Joaquin Niemann (Chi), Kevin Tway, Jon Curran, Brandon Harkins
69 Kramer Hickok, Vaughn Taylor, Matt Jones (Aus), Andrew Landry, Patrick Cantlay, Bronson Burgoon, Chez Reavie, Danny Lee (Nzl), Roberto Castro, Tyrone Van Aswegen (Rsa), Sebastian Munoz (Col), Chris Stroud, Sam Ryder, John Senden (Aus), Lucas Glover, Beau Hossler, Adam Svensson (Can), Michael Thompson, Maverick McNealy, James Hahn, Russell Knox (Sco), Tyler Duncan, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven)
70 Bud Cauley, Brian Stuard, Nick Watney, Harold Varner III, Danny Willett (Eng), Cody Gribble, Cameron Champ, Stephan Jaeger (Ger), Hank Lebioda, Bill Haas, Brett Drewitt (Aus), Chris Thompson, Luke List, Roberto Diaz (Mex), Chesson Hadley, Cameron Davis (Aus), Jonas Blixt (Swe), Fabian Gomez (Arg), Aaron Baddeley (Aus), Hunter Mahan, J.J. Henry, J.B. Holmes, Jim Herman, Johnson Wagner
71 Carlos Ortiz (Mex), Brady Schnell, Séamus Power (Irl), Scott Langley, Grayson Murray, Ben Crane, Curtis Luck (Aus), Patrick Rodgers, Dominic Bozzelli, Corey Conners (Can), Wes Roach, Jose de jesus Rodriguez (Mex), Nick Taylor (Can), Tom Hoge, Joel Dahmen, Ted Potter, Jr., Ryan Blaum, Cameron Tringale, Josh Teater
72 Scott Brown, Benjamin Silverman (Can), Robert Garrigus, David Hearn (Can), Tyler McCumber, Robert Streb, Emiliano Grillo (Arg), Max Homa, Peter Uihlein, Joey Garber, Sean O’Hair, J.J. Spaun, Jason Dufner, Scott Piercy, Mark Anguiano, Whee Kim (Kor), Sam Burns, Michael Kim, Seth Reeves
73 Chris Kirk, Sung Kang (Kor), Brandon Hagy, Fred Couples, Trey Mullinax, Jim Knous, Ollie Schniederjans, Russell Henley, Anirban Lahiri (Ind)
74 Andres Gonzales, John Chin, Anders Albertson, Kelly Kraft, Jeff Brehaut, Martin Piller, Chad Campbell, Sang-moon Bae (Kor), John Huh
75 Ricky Barnes, Shawn Stefani, Denny McCarthy, Martin Trainer, Harris English, Mark Mulder
76 Chad Collins, Kyoung-hoon Lee (Kor), Jamie Lovemark
77 Wesley Bryan, Adam Hadwin (Can)
