Jason Day admitted to being deflated from his Masters disappointment, but showed little signs of it to finish one shot off the pace after the opening round of the RBC Heritage PGA Tour event.
The world No.1 - who failed to mount a final-round charge at Augusta National to finish in a tie for 10th - carded a four-under-par 67, and could consider himself unlucky not to be in a share of the lead after the final hole.
Englishman Luke Donald and Branden Grace both opened with 66s - each with six birdies and one bogey, with Day one of four players in a share of third.
However, if not for Day's second shot on the 18th, which ended up in a plugged lie under the lip of a bunker guarding the front left of the green, the leaderboard could have been much different.
After taking an unplayable, Day did well to splash out to six feet and sink the putt for a bogey.
"It was a little bit unlucky but I shouldn't have been in that bunker in the first place," Day told The Golf Channel.
"I'm just glad I got a bogey out of it.
"I had played good up until that point so I'm not too disappointed ... not the way I wanted to finish but I played very nicely throughout the whole day to shoot 67."
It was a tough finish for Day, who admitted his energy stocks were low after his finish at Augusta.
"But you just have to suck it up and get through the week," he said.
Stuart Appleby was the next-best placed Australian, one of 10 players sitting 15th at two under, three shots off the lead.
John Senden is two shots back, after a topsy-turvy round of four birdies and four bogeys to finish even on 71.
Fellow Australians Aaron Baddeley and Marc Leishman were also even with the card, with Geoff Ogilvy one shot further back.
Meanwhile, Robert Allenby (+2), Ryan Ruffels (+4) and Matt Jones (+5) each endured difficult opening rounds.
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