Ignited by a 7-iron from 174 yards that he sank for an eagle on his fifth hole of the day, Andrew Landry fired his lowest ever PGA Tour round of 63 Thursday to earn a tie for second after the first day of the Career Builder Challenge in La Quinta, California.

Landry was one-shot off the lead of Jon Rahm and tied with former University of Arkansas teammate Austin Cook in the tournament that once was known as the Bob Hope Desert Classic.

The Port Neches-Groves ex, who started on the back nine at La Quinta Country Club, launched his round with back-to-back birdies, then made the shot of the day for a two at the 469-yard, par 4, 14th. He would close the outgoing nine with birdies at 16, 17 and 18 to make the turn in 29.

Birdies at the par 3, third (his 12th hole) and the par 4, fourth, got him to 9 under. With back-to-back par 5s ahead, a really low number looked possible. But he finished with five consecutive pars.

“Overall I am really pleased,” he said. “It could have been better, but I really tightened some things up from the way I played last week in Hawaii. Everything was solid today and I didn’t make any stupid mistakes.”

“Obviously, when you are 9 under through 13 holes, you want to go lower. The one thing I did not do was take advantage of the par 5s. I am really irritated that I was able to birdie only one of them. I was greenside in two on two of them and didn’t get up and down. On the other one, I hit a bad wedge and left about a 20-foot putt.”

Landry, after shooting a second round 75 to miss the cut in Hawaii, had been working hard on his game in California since Sunday, and the results were apparent. His previous low round on the PGA Tour was a 64 in the RSM Classic last November. He twice shot 63s on the Web.com Tour, but those came on a par 71 course.

Working in his favor Thursday was the fact La Quinta Country Club is the easier of the three courses used in the Career Builders. Landry plays the Nicklaus Tournament Course Friday and the TPC Stadium course on Saturday. Six of the eight rounds of 64 or better on Thursday were at La Quinta CC.

“You need to go low at La Quinta,” he said. “The other two courses are definitely tougher. The Stadium Course is probably the toughest.”

With three courses being used, and pros playing with amateurs the first three days, the cut is at 54 holes instead of the usual 36.

While Landry was going low at La Quinta, Chris Stroud finished strong for a two-under-par 70 on the Stadium Course. He made the turn in one-over 37, then rolled in birdies at the par 5, 11th, the par 3, 13th and the par 3, 17th to shoot 33 on the back. He’s tied for 86th.