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Greensboro - England's Ross Fisher shot a six-under-par 64 to share the lead after the opening round of the PGA Wyndham Championship on Thursday, with defending champion Sergio Garcia one shot back.
Fisher, a member of Europe's 2010 Ryder Cup winning team, is tied for the lead with American Chris Stroud.
"My manager said, 'You've got nothing to lose. Just go out there all guns blazing and see what happens,'" Fisher said.
"I know what I've got to do, and I've just got to go enjoy it, and if it's meant to be, it'll happen. ... I don't want it to end here."
Garcia began his title defence with a bogey-free round that included five birdies. The Spaniard is bidding to become the first repeat winner since Sam Snead in the 1950s.
He was joined in third place by former Masters champion Trevor Immelman of South Africa, Robert Garrigus, Australia's Matt Jones, Andrew Svoboda, Morgan Hoffmann, Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed.
Australia's Stuart Appleby carded a four-under 66 for a share of 11th place with Charles Howell, Aussie John Senden, Bryce Molder and Chris Kirk.
Fisher is a rookie on the USPGA Tour but he has four victories on the European circuit. He was in the day's final threesome to start on the back nine, and he made his climb late.
Garcia's birdie putts came from five, 13, two, 14 and three feet. On the par-five 15th he two-putted from 49 feet.
"Obviously I made some good two putts from long range," Garcia said. "I did hit the ball pretty nicely which was nice to see and holed a couple nice putts here and there.
"Overall, I'm very happy with the round and hoping to do more of the same tomorrow(Friday)."
The Wyndham Championship is the final event before the FedExCup playoffs start next week and players are battling to get into the top 125 on either the money list or FedExCup points standings to retain their USPGA Tour cards for next year.
American Stroud safely has his card locked up for the 2013-14 season as he stands 50th on the money list. Fisher, on the other hand, is 166th on the money list and 162nd on the FedExCup points list, and needs a big week to keep his card.
Stroud had eight birdies during his best round of the year, which came at a course that he has struggled on through the previous five years.
Leading first-round scores on Thursday in the $5.3 million US PGA Wyndham Championship (USA unless noted, par-70):
64 - Chris Stroud, Ross Fisher (ENG)
65 - Matt Jones (AUS), Robert Garrigus, Andrew Svoboda, Jordan Spieth, Sergio Garcia (ESP), Trevor Immelman (RSA), Morgan Hoffmann, Patrick Reed
66 - John Senden (AUS), Bryce Molder, Chris Kirk, Stuart Appleby (AUS), Charles Howell
67 - Bob Estes, Matt Every, Rory Sabbatini (RSA), Brian Harman, Noh Seung-Yul (KOR), Alistair Presnell (AUS), Scott Gardiner (AUS), Jim Herman, Michael Letzig, Shawn Stefani, Scott Langley, Scott Verplank, Zach Johnson, Geoff Ogilvy (AUS), Martin Flores, Doug LaBelle, Henrik Norlander (SWE), Park Jin (KOR)
