Playing the La Quinta course in the PGA TOUR event that uses a three-course rotation, Day shot 8-under 64 to sit two strokes back of JT Poston who shot 10-under 62 on the Nicklaus Tournament course.

Day’s 8-under round matches his tournament low score (Round 2, 2023) and was made possible by some sharp work with the short game.

On the back of consecutive birdies at four and five, Day chipped in for eagle from just short of the green at the par-5 sixth.

He used more loft to hole out from the rough short of the green at the par-4 10th and then chipped in for a third time to walk away from the par-5 13th with an eagle.

“Short game was nice,” said Day, who was T6 in putts per green in regulation in Round 1.

“Obviously chipped in three times – that usually helps – and two of those were for eagle.

“That’s always nice, to be able to be in position to give myself a good chance at birdieing the

par-5s here, because obviously you got to capitalise on the opportunities here.”

Since moving from five to four rounds in 2012, the average winning score at The American Express has been 25-under par.

In a similar position on the leaderboard through two rounds two years ago, Day knows he needs to maintain that pace on the Nicklaus Tournament course in Round 2.

“As long as you can stay in front of like 6-under per day, I think gives you a pretty good chance,” said Day.

“With that being said, I think the greens are firm, so I’m not sure what the scoring’s going to be like this week. It will be interesting.

“The goal was to try to stay in front of 6-under each day and go from there.

“All three golf courses can be gettable if you’re playing well, so I just got to take it a day at a time.”

Another Aussie in excellent position after Round 1 is Victorian David Micheluzzi.

Playing his first event of the year, Micheluzzi shot 7-under 65 on day one of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour.

David Micheluzzi's first time at @DubaiDCGolf and he currently shares the lead! #HeroDubaiDesertClassic | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/yhAuvTGywH

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 16, 2025

Micheluzzi had seven birdies in a flawless opening round – a remarkable achievement given the 28-year-old had never played the Majlis Course before.

“Everyone is saying how tough it was and today I played great. There’s nothing more to it,” he said.

“It was nice for the first, I’d say 11, 12 holes and then the wind got up a little bit.

“Just kept hitting good shots and stumped a few shots where I probably wasn’t aiming.

“Got lucky with those, and then holed some nice putts coming in.”

Fresh from a tie for fifth at Webex Players Series Perth, West Australian Jason Scrivener shot 67 in Round to be tied for fifth, Kiwi pair Ryan Fox and Daniel Hillier a further shot back in a tie for ninth.

The 2025 PGA TOUR Champions season is also now underway, Mark Hensby and Rod Pampling both tied for 10th after Round 1 of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Hawaii.

Photo: Joe Scarnici/Getty Images