Sergio Garcia made an eagle, avoided an alligator and wound up in a share of the lead on Thursday at the US PGA Tour's Honda Classic in Florida.
The Spaniard holed out an 8-iron for eagle on the second hole and finished with a birdie for a five-under 65.
Michael Thompson, who won the Honda Classic in 2013, also made birdie on the 18th for a 65.
They were one shot ahead of Americans Rickie Fowler and William McGirt.
Adam Scott and Stuart Appleby were the best of the Australians at even-par 70 and in a tie for 23rd, followed by John Senden (71), Geoff Ogilvy (72), Robert Allenby (74) and Matt Jones (75).
The biggest excitement for Garcia was on the par-4 sixth hole, where he made his lone bogey.
His tee shot found the water left of the fairway, shallow enough for him to roll up his pants and try to play it out to the fairway. That part was easy. He looked over his shoulder because of an alligator on the island, making sure it wasn't going anywhere soon.
"I was more worried about the alligator that was on the other side of the island than getting out of the water," Garcia said.
"The ball, I could see probably half of it, so I knew that I could get it out. Almost made 4, which would have been a great 4. I'm not going to lie, I was happy with a 5."
And he was happy with other 60 strokes he took on a typical windy day at PGA National.
Garcia missed the cut last week at Riviera, two days in which he said he did nothing well.
For the early starters, it was a rude welcome to the Florida swing - chilly and gusts that approached 48km/hr.
Phil Mickelson extended his good play from a runner-up finish at Pebble Beach and shot 69, among 10 players who managed to break par in the morning. The wind eased slightly and the warmth returned briefly in the afternoon, and the crowd had a lot more to cheer.
That included the loudest cheer of the day on the par-3 17th, where Alex Cejka made a hole-in-one.
Rory McIlroy, however, wasn't in a happy place when he finished. Standing outside the scoring area, he smacked his putter on the concrete before going inside to sign for a 72. It wasn't an awful score, but the finish led to his angst.
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