A wobbly start on his back nine took the wind out of Jeev Milkha Singh's [Images] sail as the Indian pro slumped to tied 81st after a mundane opening round of one-over 73 at the US $5.6 million Houston Open.

Playing his back nine first, Jeev had a bogey-bogey start to his campaign and though he immediately got into a damage control exercise by firing birdies on the 12th and 16th holes, dropping a shot on the 18th and one more on the third left him at two-over.

The Indian ace, however, picked up a shot on the eighth, his penultimate, before joining the 18-player huddle at 81st place.

He needed 33 putts in his round, indicating there is enough room for improvement in his short game over the next three days.

At the top of the chart, defending champion Adam Scott blasted a nine-under 63 to set a new course record before American Johnson Wagner went on to match the score.

Incidentally, Wagner held the previous record of 62, along with Bubba Watson.

Charlie Hoffman was in third place from two strokes behind, just ahead of Steve Stricker.