At the par-five 18th hole, Sahith Theegala recorded his tenth birdie of the day to just edge ahead of a star-studded group at the final second and take sole possession of the lead in the first round at The Sentry on Thursday in Maui, Hawaii.
At the PGA Tour's 2024 season opener at the Plantation Course at Kapalua, Theegala posted a nine-under-par 64 to pull ahead of Collin Morikawa, Colombia's Camilo Villegas, Australia's Jason Day, South Korea's Sungjae Im, and Norway's Viktor Hovland.
The 26-year-old Theegala, who won his first tour match at the Fortinet Championship in September of last year, had six birdies in a row on Thursday between the 10th and 15th holes.
Theegala said the third birdie of that run was probably his favourite. "Just because I hit a great drive, almost got - just hit it in the greenside bunker there.
"Didn't hit a great bunker shot and I had a gnarly eight-or-nine-footer that I didn't know which way it was going to break, grain was going all over the place.
"I just aimed it dead centre and tried to hit it hard and hearted that putt, and that settled me down a little bit more because I knew 13, 14, 15 were very gettable too, so to make that putt was nice."
At No. 16, he discovered sand off the tee, which led to his sole bogey of the round. At the 684-yard last hole, however, he hit two booming long shots that set him up for a short pitch approach that he tucked inside six feet for the winning birdie putt.
The leaders of the clubhouse in the early afternoon were Morikawa and Villegas. Amid a flawless round, Morikawa birdied the par-five ninth, and Villegas, 41, had seven birdies and one bogey on his back nine.
Hovland: Happy after scrappy round.
The reigning FedEx Cup champion Hovland heated up in the last seven holes, finishing five under.
Hovland called his round "pretty scrappy from a swing standpoint, but I'm very happy with the score. Managed to make some putts and kept it relatively stress-free."
A further group of elite players, including world number one Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, and Emiliano Grillo of Argentina, are lurking two strokes back at seven-under 66.
The PGA Tour has reverted to a season that takes place within a single calendar year, abandoning its previous "wraparound" schedule that began in the fall and ran through the summer of the following year.
Players who had won on tour the previous season were the only ones eligible for the competition, which was formerly known as the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
It will now be available to the top 50 players in the FedExCup rankings from the previous year as well as anyone who wins a tournament in that year. With no cut, the pitch has a record 59 competitors.
Jon Rahm, the 2023 Sentry champion, is one prominent absence. When the Spanish two-time major champion switched from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf last month, it rocked the sport.
Last year's winner was Rahm, with Morikawa coming in second. Only because of Rahm's PGA Tour suspension, Canadian Mackenzie Hughes' FedExCup finish was moved up from No. 51 to No. 50, allowing him to qualify for the Sentry field. Hughes shot five under to start the round.