Henry played in the one of the first groups of the day at the TPC-San Antonio course, only four hours south of his home in Fort Worth, Texas. He shot nines of 33-34 with five birdies and no bogeys to finish at 5-under-par. “It’s close to home, easy to drive down here. Great people and a great job down here. It’s always a fun place to come and play,” Henry said.

Cink, who won the 2009 Open Championship, played late under warm, sunny conditions, but had the same result, a bogey-free round for a share of the lead. “I played really, really well today. I had some opportunities to have a good round.”

A group of five players tied for third, Charley Hoffman, Jhonattan Vegas, Vaughn Taylor, Kevin Chappell and defending champion Adam Scott. “It’s still a long way to go to start thinking about a repeat win, but it was a nice start,” Scott said.

Kevin Na didn’t finish among the leaders, finishing with a first round 80, but he did survive a single hole disaster of historic nature. He made a 16 on the par 4 9th hole, the third highest score since the PGA Tour began keeping official records in 1983. It was the highest ever score on a par 4. He hit his first shot right into the trees, returned to the tee for his third shot but sent it in the trees again. It took him 12 shots in total to get out of the brush and make it on the green. That included hitting himself with a shot and completely missing another one.

Video: Have a look at Kevin Na's struggling at the 9th hole.

“I wish I had gone back there again and re-teed it again and I might have made an eight,” Na said. “There are a lot of what ifs and what could have beens. The only thing I can do is learn from this and hopefully it won’t happen again.”

First round leaderboard:
1) J. J. Henry (USA) 67, -5
    Stewart Cink (USA)
3) Charley Hoffman (USA) 68, -4
    Jhonattan Vegas (VEN)
    Vaughn Taylor (USA)
    Kevin Chappell (USA)
    Adam Scott (AUS)