Former world number one David Duval of the United States and Germany's Alex Cejka were among a group of 11 players who carded 70s in the first round.
Hubbard was one under for the day after 12 holes but soared to the top of the leaderboard as he finished birdie-birdie-birdie-par-bogey-birdie.
"I drove it pretty well, kept it in the fairway and made a lot of solid five and six-footers," Hubbard told reporters. "It played tough out there with the wind."
Hubbard, who made the cut in his last eight starts on the lower-tier Web.com Tour in 2013-14 to earn his PGA Tour card for this season, has been on an unusual roller-coaster ride over the past three weeks.
He proposed to his girlfriend on the 18th green after the opening round of last month's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, and was disqualified from last week's Honda Classic after failing to register as the tournament's first alternate.
"I've been getting a lot of press," said Hubbard.
American Chesson Hadley, who won last year's Puerto Rico Open as a PGA Tour rookie by two shots after surviving a late charge in the final round by New Zealand's Danny Lee, launched his title defence with a 71.
(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Frank Pingue)
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