In a blazing-hot finish, the German fired a six-under-par 66 on Thursday (Friday, AEDT) to grab sole possession of the lead after the opening round.

Joel Dahmen and Andrew Yun were tied for second place at five under.

Nate Lashley, Adam Schenk, Justin Suh, Sam Ryder, Mark Anderson and Puerto Rico's Rafael Campos all were tied for fourth place at four under.

Aaron Baddeley and Rhein Gibson are the closest Australian challengers.

Both are two under for the tournament, four behind Jaeger, after mixing their rounds.

Baddeley had five birdies and three bogeys while Gibson made six birdies and four bogeys.

The field did not include the top players in the world, who are competing at the World Golf Championships Match Play event in Austin, Texas.

Starting on the back nine, Jaeger showed nothing to indicate what was to come with two birdies and a bogey over his first nine holes.

After the turn, though, he had a hole-in-one at the 206-yard par-3 2nd hole with an 8-iron and closed with three more birdies and a 31 over his final nine holes.