Playing through temperatures in the 90s (Fahrenheit) at Keene Trace, the Canadian eagled the par-5 15th and 8th holes.

The first eagle came after his lone bogey on No.14, while the second was after a 31-foot putt that gave him the lead.

"I had a couple of top-25s the last few events and I've always had, not issues, but just kind of struggled a little with the putter," said Svensson, whose best finish this season was a tie for seventh at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

"I've been working more on putting than I have ball-striking, usually it's the other way around for me. The extra work and extra time spending with putting has helped my game even more than just hitting balls."

Portugal's Ricardo Gouveia and Robin Roussel of France each shot 64.

The Barbasol Championship is the DP World and PGA Tours first co-sanctioned event in the U.S. and features 50 players from the European Tour among 156 competitors.

The winner will get the final spot next week in The Open at St. Andrews.

Gouveia is making his second PGA Tour start.

"It was a great round, really solid off the tee, hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, holed some good putts," said Gouveia, who overcame a back issue that forced him to withdraw from the pro-am Wednesday. "Just a very solid round.

Roussel eagled the par-5 11th in a bogey-free round that included six birdies.

Trey Mullinax was at 65 with Matti Schmid, Camilo Villegas, Max McGreevy, Michael Kim, David Skinns, Mark Hubbard and Bo Van Pelt.

Cameron Percy is the best of the Australians, the Victorian signing for a 66 to sit in a share of 12th four shots back of Svensson.