Davis is in the chasing pack, tied with Rory McIlroy and four others on a crowded leaderboard at the PGA Tour event at Congaree Golf Club.

They are all in pursuit of Americans Gary Woodland and Trey Mullinax, who both shot six-under 65s.

Davis had to scramble madly to avoid a dread double-bogey start before reeling off six birdies to be right in the mix.

"Very solid," he said.

"A bit of a rough one on the first hole, just needed to get that first one out of the way, and then after that I played some really solid golf.

"I hit a lot of really good quality iron shots and mid-to-long irons into these greens and made a couple of nice putts to keep some momentum going.

"Yeah, turned it into a pretty good score. So I'm very happy with the way I did today. If I can do that every day, I think I have a good chance at it."

Woodland birdied his first three holes and added four more, including the par-4 17th and 18th, to go with two bogeys.

"I drove the golf ball well all day, saw some putts go in and that kind of freed up the ball-striking," Woodland said.

"Turned it into a pretty good score. So I'm very happy with the way I did today. If I can do that every day, I think I have a good chance at it." - Cam Davis.

"Playing from the fairway out here is a huge advantage and I was able to attack a little bit from there as well.

"All in all, I had all three aspects of driving, ball-striking, putting going on and it was a good day."

Woodland won the 2019 US Open but hasn't won any tournament since. He missed more cuts (12) than he made (11) in the 2021-22 season and is looking to rebound.

Mullinax opened with five birdies on the front nine and got up to seven under through 12 holes, but made a late bogey to fall back into a share of the lead.

McIlroy had the only bogey-free round of anyone in the top 10, highlighted by three straight birdies from the fourth to sixth holes.

He won the event last season when it was held in Las Vegas and could wind up back at World No.1 with another victory on Sunday.

"It's a golf course where you can hit driver a lot, the fairways are quite generous, but obviously if you go off the fairways, you can get in some trouble," McIlroy said.

"But I drove the ball well today. I took advantage of the par-5s, the drivable par-4 on the back nine there, 15."

Other major champions on the leaderboard include Justin Thomas and Irishman Shane Lowry at three-under, Spaniard Jon Rahm and Australian Jason Day at two-under and Collin Morikawa and England's Matt Fitzpatrick at one-under.