LOS ANGELES (AFP) — World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler made a bright start to 2026, firing a nine-under par 63 on Thursday to join a big group one off the lead shared by Min Woo Lee and Pierceson Coody at the US PGA Tour event in La Quinta, California.

Scheffler, making his season debut after a 2025 campaign that featured two major titles among his six wins, hit just five of 14 fairways.

But he displayed some crisp iron play, including a hole out from off the green at 17 for his ninth birdie of the day.

“I got off to a good start today,” Scheffler said.

“I was really sharp on the front nine, made some nice putts, hit some good iron shots, a lot of good tee balls.”

“I wasn’t as sharp as I would have hoped to be on the back nine, but I scrambled pretty well and was able to post a good score.”

Scheffler played the La Quinta course, one of three par-72 courses in use over the first three rounds of the tournament in the California desert east of Los Angeles.

Australia’s Lee and American Coody both played the Nicklaus Tournament course and both piled up 10 birdies in their 10-under 62s.

Lee admitted to some nerves early in his first competitive round of the year after some tweaks to his swing in the off-season.

“(I) didn’t really know how it was going to go,” he said. “But started off really nice, kept it going.”

He said the benign conditions made for “a great day to make some birdies.”

“(It was) probably the stillest day I’ve ever played golf in,” Lee said.

“So the numbers were exactly what you wanted and you just execute ‘em. It was a really fun day.”

Coody’s 10 birdies included seven in a row from the 11th through the 17th.

“I was making good putts and got things going on the back nine,” he said.

“It was really nice to see some good wedges go my way, and knock in some of the nice six- and eight-foot putts that you have to.”

One stroke behind Lee and Coody, Scheffler was tied with eight other players: world number eight Ben Griffin and fellow Americans Patrick Cantlay, Matt McCarty and Vince Whaley, South Koreans Kim Si-Woo and Kim Seong-hyeon, Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre and Australian veteran Jason Day.

Day was the only player among the top 11 who played the Stadium Course, the toughest layout in the rotation on which Sunday’s final round will be played.