Australian teenager Ryan Ruffels and his playing partner Kyle Stanley are tied for the lead in the Zurich Classic, the first team event on the US PGA Tour in 36 years.
Ruffels and American Stanley posted an opening-round six-under 66 in foursomes to share the top of the leaderboard with Jordan Spieth and Ryan Palmer.
They combined brilliantly at TPC Louisiana, New Orleans, for eight birdies before dropping a shot at the par-3 ninth, their final hole of the round.
Born in the United States and turning 19 on Saturday, Ruffels is the son of former Australian professional tennis player Ray Ruffels.
He starred as an amateur before turning professional last year.
Ruffels had never played foursomes until nine holes of practice on Tuesday, but it didn't show.
Starting on the back nine, they began the round with four straight birdies, with Stanley making three of those putts.
"We both keep it in play, and we both hit it quite long. We gave ourselves a lot of opportunities," Ruffels said.
"So all it took was someone to start rolling a few putts in, like we both did."
World No.3 Jason Day and Ricky Fowler combined for two birdies in their opening nine.
But despite another birdie soon after turning for home, they slipped down the leaderboard with bogeys at their 15th and 18th holes.
They are in a tie for 33rd after carding a one-under 71.
Day went into the new tournament hoping his pairing with Fowler would ignite his PGA season.
Behind Ruffels, the next best Australian is Cameron Smith who paired with Sweden's Jonas Blixt for a five-under 67.
Geoff Ogilvy and Ian Poulter combined for a three-under 69 while Matt Jones and Ricky Barnes are a shot further back.
Spieth showed off his stellar short game and Palmer made key putts on day one.
World No.5 Spieth hit a bump-and-run from 100 feet to set up a birdie on the par-5 11th, he chipped in for birdie on the 14th and closed out the round with a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th.
The new-look Zurich Classic features two-man teams.
Foursomes will be played again on Saturday while a four-ball best ball format will be used on Friday as well as Sunday.
There are 80 teams and the top 35 will make the cut after the second round.
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