Sutherland takes AT&T Classic lead

The 42-year-old recorded eight birdies and a solitary bogey to lead Stephen Marino, Tommy Armour III, Ryuji Imada, Bob May and Craig Kanada by two shots after the quintet all carded rounds of 67, while four players are a stroke further back at four under par.

The Sacramento native managed to birdie all four of the par-fives at the 7,343-yard, par-72 course, and the only blemish on his scorecard came with a dropped shot at the par-four fifth. And he was understandably delighted with his first-round performance at the $5.4 million (£2,734,705) event.

Sutherland said: "I hit the ball pretty well. Actually, I hit the ball very well. I was very pleased with the way I hit it. You're not going to shoot 65 very often, so it was a lot of fun.

"The course is in great shape and the weather is perfect. The ball is really running down these fairways so you can get to the par-fives and I took advantage of all four of them."

The highlight of Sutherland's round was chipping in from a bunker for a birdie at the par-three 16th hole. He added: "Obviously it was a nice bonus. I hit a pretty good shot in there and I just came up half a club short.

"I hit an 8-iron and it caught the lip of the bunker and rolled back in. It was a fairly easy bunker shot but to hole it was a bonus. That kind of got me going.

"All of a sudden I birdied the 17th when I hit a wedge in to about five feet. I then knocked it on the green in two on the 18th and two-putted for a birdie there."

Imada, meanwhile, initially started poorly and fell to two over par after a double-bogey six on the fifth but birdied six of the next eight holes before finishing with an eagle on the par-five 18th and the Japanese player said: "After the double on five I knew I had to make birdies.

"But I knew there were three par-fives that were reachable and once I got to six and made birdie, I started feeling better and my shots showed it. There were a few lucky birdies here and there but all-in-all, I played really well from six onwards."