AKRON, Ohio _ Struggling with one's driver is generally not ideal during a round of golf on the South Course at Firestone Country Club.
The driver gave Thomas Pieters fits on Thursday during the first round of the 2017 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, but the 25-year-old Belgian relied on his putter and other clubs to post the top score of the day, a bogey-free 5-under-par 65.
"I only had two putts from above the hole," Pieters said. "The rest of them were just pretty straightforward putts. I think that was the key. I was pretty terrible from the tee, but managed to find a lot of greens today. I think I hit eight or nine in a row on the first nine and that was important as well. It was kind of a stress-free round. On my back nine, I missed a couple greens but got up and down a couple times, so pretty happy."
Pieters is among 22 golfers who made their first appearance at Firestone.
When asked if he saw a 65 coming, Pieters said: "Yeah, if I keep the driver out of the bag, yeah. Can't hit the damn thing. The 3-wood was really good. Only hit a couple fairways but I think like on nine, I hit it straight down the middle and some of these fairways are just really hard to hit because the slope is so steep. I hit a lot of greens."
Russell Knox of Scotland had the second-best round with a 66.
American Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 ranked golfer in the World and the defending Bridgestone champion, carded a 68 on the course that covers approximately 7,400 yards.
"I thought I played pretty well," Johnson said. "The golf course is playing good. Hit a few good putts from short range that hit the hole that didn't go in, but other than that it was a pretty solid day. Felt like I drove it OK. Had some nice, good wedge shots."
Other highly ranked golfers, such as Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Adam Scott, Hideki Matsuyama, Alex Noren and Zach Johnson are among a group of 21 players that posted rounds under par.
Americans Watson, Spieth and Kevin Kisner are tied for third with 67s along with Northern Ireland's McIlroy, Spain's Rahm and England's Ross Fisher.
Spieth, playing in his first tournament since winning the British Open, acknowledged that several golfers congratulated him either in person or via a text message or phone call.
"There's no rivalries out here," Spieth said. "We all want to stand out, right, we all want to accomplish our goals and we all want to battle it out with the other guys."
Americans Jimmy Walker, Dustin Johnson and Charley Hoffman are tied for ninth with 68s along with Canada's Adam Hadwin, Argentina's Andres Romero and Australia's Adam Scott.
Scott started on No. 1 and was 5-under-par through 12 holes, but dropped down the leaderboard with bogeys on Nos. 13, 14, 17 and 18.
In a lighter moment after their rounds, McIlroy and Dustin Johnson shared a laugh as McIloy met with the media and Johnson posed as a journalist with a question.
"DJ, my round was good," McIlroy said. "It could have been a little better but holed some good puts, had some good up-and-downs. Wedge play was a little off, I'm going to go work on that this afternoon on the range. I might need to borrow your TrackMan. How was your round?"
Johnson responded by saying "about the same."
Pieters started on No. 10 and then separated from the field of 76 golfers. He birdied Nos. 14 and 16 to post a 2-under-par 33 on the back nine, and then his front nine included birdies on Nos. 1, 2 and 9 for a 3-under-par 32.
"I hit plenty of 3-woods," Pieters said. "When I hit driver, I shouldn't have, I was just not confident with it. So I'll have to do plenty of work on the range this afternoon, I'm sure I'll get it back.
"I just play the course. I had fun (practice) rounds with Adam (Scott) and Sergio (Garcia). I don't get too much into where I have to hit it, where not to, mapping it out. I leave that to my caddie and we figure out a simple game plan and try to stick to that."
Pieters said Scott and Garcia advised him "to play aggressive" in his debut at Firestone.
"I like the course," Pieters said. "I've never been, no, but it's just a golf course. You have to plot your way around and manage the game plan that works for you."
Knox, 32, started on No. 10 and finished with an eagle on No. 2, birdies on Nos. 10, 16, 1 and 8, and bogeys on Nos. 18 and 9.
"You know what, I ate sausage instead of bacon this morning," Knox said. "All this time, the whole year, if I would have just eaten sausage, I would have played better.
"No, I mean, I hit the ball great today. I've obviously struggled a little bit recently but my game's not been far off. I know it hasn't been. I made a couple adjustments in my equipment, which is going to be important moving forward, I think, for me. I mean, today was how I normally have played. I'm very happy to have shot 4 under."
Knox said the biggest equipment changes he made was going back to an old putter and switching iron shafts for the first time in five years.
