Ken Duke and Charlie Wi each shot seven-under-par 64s to share a one-stroke lead after the first round of the John Deere Classic.
Duke, who along with Wi missed the cut at the AT&T National last week, started his round on the back nine and carded four birdies before picking up another four on the way home along with his solitary bogey at the par four eighth.
"I got off to a great start and birdied the first hole and made a great save on 12 and ran off a couple in there on 13 and 14 and hit some really good shots," Duke said. "I didn't drive it like I should today but hit some good shots and made a lot of great putts."
Wi also started on the back side and closed his opening nine with a flourish, making eagle on the par-five 17th and following with a birdie at his ninth hole.
The South Korean, who finished fourth at the Buick Invitational, added a pair of birdies on the front side and had a chance for the outright lead before missing an eight-foot birdie attempt on his final hole.
Duke and Wi hold a one-shot lead over Eric Axley, Kenny Perry, Garrett Willis and Will MacKenzie, who all shot 65s, while Chris Riley and Woody Austin head a group of eight players at five-under.
Perry, who has two PGA Tour victories and and a sixth-place finish in his last four starts, continued his stellar play with his ninth consecutive round in the 60s.
Starting his day on the back nine, Perry opened with three consecutive birdies and only a bogey at six - his 15th hole of the day - prevented him from grabbing a share of the lead.
Defending champion Jonathan Byrd is among a cluster of 14 players three stokes off the lead following a 67.
Collated first round scores in the USPGA Tour John Deere Classic, The TPC at Deere Run, Silvis, Illinois, United States of America
(USA unless stated, par 71):
64 Charlie Wi (Kor), Ken Duke
65 Will MacKenzie, Kenny Perry, Eric Axley, Garrett Willis
66 Brad Adamonis, Michael Bradley, Patrick Sheehan, Chris Riley, Jeff Gove, Woody Austin, Cameron Beckman, Ryan Armour
67 Jerry Kelly, Kent Jones, Brian Davis (Eng), Pat Perez, Jeff Overton, J.P. Hayes, Tom Lehman, Chez Reavie, Philip Francis, Chad Campbell, Scott Sterling, Jonathan Byrd, Nicholas Thompson, Frank Lickliter II
68 David Lutterus (Rsa), Kirk Triplett, Vaughn Taylor, Marco Dawson, Kevin Sutherland, Paul Claxton, Dean Wilson, John Riegger, Bob Heintz, Gavin Coles (Aus), Matt Kuchar, Peter Lonard (Aus), Mark Calcavecchia, Rich Beem, Jon Mills (Can), Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn), Ryan Moore
69 Bart Bryant, Kyle Thompson, David Duval, Todd Hamilton, Tom Byrum, Harrison Frazar, Bob Sowards, Heath Slocum, Steve Marino, Tim Petrovic, Shane Bertsch, Jesper Parnevik (Swe), Chris Stroud, Brad Elder, Zach Johnson, Joe Ogilvie, Nick Flanagan (Aus), Chad Collins, Dan Forsman, John Huston, Jay Williamson
70 Michael Letzig, Tag Ridings, Billy Mayfair, Mathias Gronberg (Swe), Jamie Lovemark, Ronald Whittaker, Y. E Yang (Kor), Justin Bolli, Jim McGovern, Deane Pappas (Rsa), Mark Brooks, Jin Park (Kor), Lucas Glover, Ted Purdy, Jason Dufner, Bubba Watson, Steve Allan (Aus), George McNeill, John Morse, Glen Day, Olin Browne, Tim Clark (Rsa), D.J. Trahan
71 Charley Hoffman, Brady Schnell, Brenden Pappas (Rsa), Webb Simpson, Nathan Green (Aus), Dicky Pride, Scott McCarron, John Merrick, Mark Wilson, Jason null Day (Aus), Jason Knutzon, Dustin Johnson, Aaron Baddeley (Aus), Travis Perkins (Sco), Richard S Johnson (Swe), J J Henry, Jay Delsing, Marc Turnesa, Johnson Wagner, Robert Gamez
72 Nick Watney, Omar Uresti, Andrew Buckle (Aus), Brian Gay, John Senden (Aus), Todd Demsey, Lee Janzen, Mark Hensby (Aus), Parker McLachlin, J.B. Holmes, Ben Crane, Jimmy Walker, Martin Laird, Carlos Franco (Par), Jason Gore
73 Charles Warren, Paul Stankowski, Jason Allred, J.T Kohut, Kenneth Ferrie (Eng), J.L. Lewis, Tommy Gainey, Kevin Na (Kor), Bob Tway, Sean O'Hair, Robert Damron, Carl Pettersson (Swe)
74 Richard Johnson (Wal), Cody Freeman, Neal Lancaster, Matthew Jones (Aus), Len Mattiace, Brandt Jobe, Ryan Brehm, Craig Kanada, Douglas Labelle
75 Tom Scherrer, Bill Haas, James Driscoll
76 Sean McCarty, Larry Mize
77 Brent Geiberger, Troy Matteson
78 Brian Carroll, Tim Herron, Chad Proehl, Ryan Palmer
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