Arjun Atwal went on a birdie spree to return with a brilliant seven-under 65 to share the top position after the opening round in the USD 5.5 million PGA Zurich Classic of New Orleans in Louisiana.
Atwal, who lost in a play-off to Phil Mickelson at BellSouth Classic three weeks ago, shared the lead with Chris DiMarco.
DiMarco was playing his first event since losing the Masters in a shoot-out to Tiger Woods two weeks ago.
Defending champion Vijay Singh was two off the pace as he was tied for the third place with J J Henry, Tom Pernice and Tim Clark.
Daniel Chopra, who had a topsy turvy start from the tenth tee, was placed joint 36th at one-under 71.
He birdied 13th, double bogeyed 17th and birdied 18th as he turned in three-over. On the second nine, he had four birdies between second and eighth hole to finish at one-under.
On the Peter Dye designed course, when Atwal started on the tenth tee it was windy and difficult to play.
But the Indian played well to land two birdies in his first nine and then went on a rampage with six birdies on the return journey.
Atwal said he concentrated on his putting. He had just 23 for the round, the lowest number of putts for the day.
He topped in birdie count with eight, as he also bogeyed once on the third.
"I just tried to make pars because it was so windy. Then I got things going on the front nine," Atwal said.
Between the 18th and eighth, over the nine holes, he birdied seven, bogeyed one on the third and parred the par-4 fifth.
Atwal, the first Indian to play the US Tour, earlier this month became the first Indian to get into a play-off of a US Tour event and finished tied second.
He now becomes the only Indian to share the lead at the end of the round.
At BellSouth Classic he held the clubhouse lead after the third round (which was also the final one) before he was joined by four others, including eventual champion, Mickelson, to get into a play-off.
DiMarco, coming off the draining loss in the first hole of a play-off to Woods three three weeks ago at Augusta National, had a bogey-free round as the winds teased the golfers.
DiMarco started the round on No. 10 and had three birdies on the first nine holes. He got to 4 under with a birdie on number 1, made five straight pars, and holed a 20-foot eagle putt on the par-5 seventh. He closed the round with a birdie on No. 9.
Vijay Singh also opened on back nine and he had two bogeys and three birdies to make the turn at one-under. He bogeyed the first, birdied the second, sixth and seventh and then eagled the par-4 eighth with a 339-foot drive and a 30-yard chip to go to six-under.
But he then three-putted the ninth for a final bogey.
