SAN ANTONIO, Texas (AFP) — Akshay Bhatia birdied five of the last seven holes to fire a nine-under par 63 and grab a three-stroke lead after Thursday's opening round of the PGA Texas Open.

The 22-year-old American fired a bogey-free round at TPC San Antonio to match his lowest career PGA round and notch his lowest total in the first 18 holes at any tour event.

"Just played really solid," Bhatia said. "This is my third time here. Not many golf courses on the tour have been my third time, so I think (I was) understanding the golf course a lot more. It was just a good day."

Justin Lower and Brendon Todd shared second on 66 with fellow Americans Max Homa, Denny McCarthy, Austin Eckroat and Tyson Alexander sharing fourth on 68.

World No. 2 Rory McIlroy, in his final tune-up for next week's Masters, opened on 69.

Filipino Rico Hoey is making a move after a 71 for shared 30th, eighth strokes off the leader.

Bhatia, with five top-17 finishes and four missed cuts in nine starts this season, captured his first PGA title last July at the Barracuda Championship, beating Patrick Rodgers in a playoff. He comes off a season-best finish of 11th at Houston last week.

"The last couple weeks is when I started working with Ryan, my psychologist, and that's where it has really paid off, just changing the way I look into the days and my goals for the day."

Bhatia, ranked 87th in the world, sank a six-foot birdie putt at the par-5 second, added back-to-back birdies at the fourth and fifth then closed the front nine with a 16-foot birdie putt.

He birdied the 12th from just outside six feet, added a tap-in birdie at the par-5 14th and sank a 15-foot birdie putt at 15 to seize the lead alone at 7-under.