Romero birdied three of his last five holes in a bogey-free round at Coco Beach Golf and Country Club on Thursday.

"I always like playing in the wind but of course it very tough for everyone," he said.

The 37-year-old Argentine won his lone PGA Tour title in New Orleans in 2008 and has two European Tour victories.

"I have been playing well for a while," he said.

"I'm really happy with the round. Mainly it was my putting that was letting me down lately and today was very good, so it gives me a lot of confidence for the whole game."

Austria's Sepp Straka was a stroke back in the event that was cancelled last year because of Hurricane Maria.

"Putted really well. My irons were really the key today," he said.

"It was really windy out there, so I put the irons in the right spots, gave myself a lot of close looks. I hit it inside of three feet a couple times from outside of 100, so that's always nice. The irons were definitely the key."

Ben Crane was at 68 with Ollie Schniederjans, David Hearn, Roberto Castro, Martin Piller, Roberto Diaz, Joey Garber, Nate Lashley and Alex Kang.

Aaron Baddeley and Curtis Luck were best of the Australians, finishing a shot back and among a large group sharing 20th place.