Vijay Singh

Veteran Vijay Singh has carded his best score in four years to take the first-round lead at The Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia.

Singh was one of the earliest players in action at The Old White TPC and took advantage of fine conditions early on Thursday to hit a seven-under 63 at the PGA Tour event in West Virginia.

The 49-year-old Fijian was just one under after the front nine but stormed home with six birdies, including four straight to complete his round.

Singh's impressive start has him one stroke clear at the top of the leaderboard, ahead of American trio Jeff Maggert, Martin Flores and Jonathan Byrd on six under.

Maggert and Flores both carded blemish-free rounds on Thursday, while Byrd bogeyed the eighth and 16th holes but managed eight birdies to finish on 64 for the day.

JB Holmes, US Open champion Webb Simpson, Argentina's Andres Romero and Garth Mulroy of South Africa are a further shot back on five under.

Gavin Coles was the best-performed of the 10 Australians involved, with a two-under round of 68, while Rod Pampling finished on one under the card.

Marc Leishman and Matt Jones were even after shooting 70s.

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson both finished the first round eight shots behind Singh.

Having completed the front nine, Woods was on even par but after moving to two under with consecutive birdies, a bogey on the 13th hole and a double bogey on the 17th completed a poor day for the former world number one.