The Bendigo golf product fired a four-under par 69 in the opening round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions at the Kapalua Resort in Hawaii.

The annual event is open to those players who won on tour in the previous 12 months and Herbert looked right at home in an elite field that includes Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama, Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson and Justin Thomas,

Herbert had five birdies and one bogey in his 67 to be equal 13th through one round - four shots behind leader and fellow Aussie Cameron Smith.

Daniel Berger, Rahm and Patrick Cantlay are one shot further back at seven-under par.

Herbert is in good company at four-under par, with Viktor Hovland, Marc Leishman, Matsuyama, DeChambeau and Xander Schauffele also shooting 67s.

Read more: PGA Tour, Augusta and the President's Cup - what's next for Lucas Herbert

The highlight of Herbert's opening round was a brilliant tee shot on the par-three 139m 11th hole.

The 26-year-old hit his iron to within one metre of the hole and tapped in for a birdie.

Herbert was one-over par through his first four holes, but birdies on the par-five fifth and ninth gave him some momentum.

While he missed a couple of good birdie putts on the back nine, Herbert drained a tricky four-and-a-half metre birdie putt on the final hole to put the icing on a nice opening day.

The birdie gave Herbert a clean-sweep of four birdies on the four par-fives at Kapalua.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: