Hisatsune leads Pebble Beach, Scheffler struggles

Hisatsune, coming off two good weeks including a runner-up finish at Torrey Pines to qualify for this $20-million ($A28m) signature event, had three straight birdies early, made the only birdie on the par-4 ninth and finished with three straight. 

His early highlights with the flatstick included a 28 1/2-foot birdie putt at No.3 followed by a 39-foot birdie roll at No.4. He chipped in from the greenside rough at No.16 for the first of his closing trio of birdies.

"I like these greens. I like a poa (annua) green, like much easier," Hisatsune said. "Feeling like more comfortable to playing these greens. Yeah, feeling like yeah, that's why I can feel more ‌comfortable. Very lucky."

Hisatsune is one shot ahead of Keegan Bradley and Sam Burns. Bradley played at Spyglass Hill, where the course average was about one-and-a-half shots higher than Pebble Beach.

Defending champion Rory McIlroy, in his first PGA Tour start of the year, had a pair of three-putt double bogeys on the par 5s at Spyglass that caused him to settle for a 68.

As for Scheffler he had to birdie the par-5 18th at Pebble Beach to avoid joining the shortlist of 12 players who failed to break par.

"I feel like typically I'm good at scoring, and today I felt like I didn't score at all," Scheffler said. "Anything that kind of went wrong seemed to be going that direction.

"I guess the challenge is making a bunch of birdies. That was a challenge for me today. I'm looking at the leaderboard right now and it looks like seven under gets you in the top 10, so scores are pretty low."

Min Woo Lee carded a five-under 67 to be Australia's leading contender.

Lee played Spyglass and had a bogey-free round, coming home with three birdies to move up to a tie for 19th.

Jason Day, the only other Australian in the field, is at two under. The one-time world No.1 also played Spyglass.