Arjun Atwal made the most of his fine form as shot six-under 65 to be at 4th position after the first round of the inaugural 3M Open here.
The 46-year-old, who earned the vital spot through a Monday qualifier, began sedately to be even par for the front nine and then went on a birdie spree with four in five holes and closed the day with a eagle by chipping in his third shot from 130 yards.
Meanwhile, Atwal's younger colleague Anirban Lahiri, started from the tenth and rode a roller-coaster with a superb first nine and disappointing second nine for a even par 71 in Tied-92nd place, putting pressure on him to play a low second round to make the cut.
Scott Piercy went on a late birdie spree on his way to a 9-under 62 and took the first-round lead. Adam Hadwin and Hideki Matsuyama are each two shots back after a 7-under 64 at the TPC Twin Cities.
Former Asia No. 1 Atwal is one of the five players at six-under 65 and the others are Brian Harman, Sungjae Im, Patton Kizzire and Sam Saunders.
Atwal, who has more than 200 PGA Tour appearances, but just one win, which however makes him the only Indian to win a PGA Tour title, had his sole win in 2010.
Interestingly, that time, too, he came into the Wyndham Championships through a Monday qualifier and became the first player to 24 years to take that route to the Trophy.
Atwal had one birdie on the second hole but he gave away the gains by dropping a shot on the seventh, where he was unable to get out of the bunker cleanly.
On the second nine, he birdied from just six feet on 10th, from nine feet on 11th and from 12 and a half feet on 12th for a hat-trick of birdies. He added one more on 14th after an fine second shot from 126 yards to six feet and he holed it.
Two pars later on the 17th, his birdie attempt from 11 feet just slid past and on the 18th, he had 130 yards to the pin for his third shot and he hit a perfect chip for an eagle finish.
In the current 2019 season, which began late 2018, Atwal has played three events and made the cut in just one 70th at Puerto Rico, where he was 70th.
Lahiri, who has not won since the 2015 Hero Indian Open, was three-under through his first nine hole with birdies on 12th, 14th and 17th and the last putt came from nearly 20 feet and promised more for the second nine.
But he suddenly lost his way, with double bogeys on second and ninth and in between had one more bogey on fourth against two birdies on third and seventh for a 71.
Piercy, who has four PGA Tour wins, birdied one of his first seven holes and eight of his final 11, including a nearly 30-foot putt on No. 16 to get to 8 under.
Bryson DeChambeau is one of the nine at 5-under 66 while Brooks Koepka is among more than a dozen at 4-under 67. Nate Lashley, who won last week's Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, shot 2-under.
Phil Mickelson had seven penalty strokes, including two on the pr-5 18th, and finished 3 over 74. Local man from Minnesota, Tim Herron aced the 208-yard eighth hole.
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