Hilton Head Island , Sahith Theegala started his week at the RBC Heritage with an opening round of 2-under 69 and was placed T-27 on the leaderboard in the $20m Signature event here.
Though Theegala was six shots behind the leader, Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg, the start was encouraging as he made three birdies in the first four holes and four in the first seven.
However, he gave up a lot of those gains on the back nine.
Two other players of Indian origin, Akshay Bhatia and Sudarshan Yellamaraju had much slower starts.
Bhatia carded 2-over 73 and was T-65 while Yellamaraju carded 3-over 74 to be placed T-70.
Theegala started his round with consecutive birdies on the first two holes before dropping a shot on the third. He quickly recovered with another birdie on the fourth.
He made birdies on the seventh and ninth holes to put himself in a strong position at 4-under before the turn .
On the back nine Theegala made bogeys on the 10th, 11th and 18th holes and had only one birdie on the 15th hole to end the day with a card of 2-under 69.
Bhatia carded 2-over 73 in a round where he made three bogeys and one birdie.
Bhatia has struggled after The Players Championship as he missed the cut at The Hero Indian Open and The Masters.
Yellamaraju carded 3-over 74. He began his round with a triple bogey which was followed by his only birdie of the round.
A bogey on the 14th hole saw him drop another shot and finish the day at 3-over par.
Aberg, who has five consecutive top-25 finishes heading into this week, is seeking his third PGA Tour title.
His bogey free round of 8-under 63 gave him a one stroke lead as Harris English and Viktor Hovland are tied for second place after carding 7-under 64 each for their opening round.
Scottie Scheffler fresh from his second place finish at The Masters carded 3-under 68 to be placed at T-20, while FedEx Cup leader Cameron Young carded an even par 71 to be placed at T-54.
Defending Champion Justin Thomas carded an opening round of 5-over 76 to be placed at T-80 on the leader board.
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