An eagle on his 15th hole on Thursday helped Erik van Rooyen to an opening five-under-par 67 in the first round of the PGA Tour’s The American Express in La Quinta, California.

The tournament is played on three courses: Pete Dye Stadium Course, La Quinta Country Club and the Nicklaus Tournament Course in La Quinta, California, and, like so many of the tournaments early in the year, scores are outrageously low.

The result of Van Rooyen’s eagle, five birdies and two bogeys at La Quinta Country Club was a share of 51st, five strokes off the lead. Up front, at 10-under on the Nicklaus Tournament Course, were Australia’s Min Woo Lee and American Pierceson Coody, who were both bogey-free.

Second places was shared by nine players, including world number one Scottie Scheffler, who started his new year with a bogey-free 63 at La Quinta Country Club.

“I think the hardest part about these tests where you have to shoot so low is you can only shoot so many under par in a round of golf,” Scheffler said. “The easier tests, where the scores are crazy low, if you start falling behind it’s a lot harder to keep up, so you have to keep pace out here.”

And that was precisely the problem facing the other South Africans in the field, as well as Van Rooyen. Christiaan Bezuidenhout carded at four-under 68 on the Nicklaus Tournament Course, and was down in a share of 71st.

Aldrich Potgieter and Christo Lamprecht didn’t start so well. Potgieter had a one-over 73 on the Pete Dye Stadium Course, and Lamprecht had a five-over 77 on La Quinta. For them, the fact that the cut comes after three rounds will be helpful if they can turn those poor scores around.

Jason Day had the most impressive round of the day with his 63 on the Pete Dye Stadium Course at PGA West, which averaged nearly four shots harder than the Nicklaus Course and just over three shots harder than La Quinta.

It was a solid start for so many of the 156 players in the largest domestic field of the year among regular PGA Tour events because of the three courses. They were treated to ideal conditions they expect in the California desert, with pleasant weather and barely a breath of wind.

Even with the new tech-infused TGL, weather like this has always made La Quinta feel like playing indoors.

“You’re coming to a dome almost,” Vince Whaley said after his 63 at the Nicklaus Tournament course. “You got hardly any wind, perfect turf, perfect golf courses, and it’s just a good check to see where your game’s at in very benign conditions. Because if you can’t hit a six-iron out here, you’re not going to hit a six-iron good anywhere.”