ADAM SCOTT AND Hunter Haas coped best with the narrow fairways and unwieldy rough of the Aronimink Golf Club yesterday, sharing a one-shot advantage at the top of the leaderboard after the opening day of play at the AT&T National.

Accuracy off the tee-box was of the utmost importance for Scott, allowing the Australian to card a four-under par total of 66 on day one in Pennsylvania, equaling his seasonal best.

“I think the key to my round was hitting a lot of fairways, which gave me an opportunity to hit the greens,” Scott told the Press Association afterwards.

The few fairways that I did miss, I didn’t get into too much trouble. It was kind of a stress-free round, which is a nice way to start.

A blistering opening of three pars and four successive birdies in his first seven holes laid the foundation for Haas’s challenge, with a bogey on the par-four seventh the only blip of the Texan’s round.

Behind the leaders, a group of four contenders have gathered on three-under par where Jhonattan Vegas is joined by Dean Wilson, Joe Ogilvie and Kyle Stanley after rounds of 67.

Rickie Fowler and Vijay Singh are among those on two-under par, while reigning Players’ Championship winner KJ Choi lies alongside South Africa’s Trevor Immelman in a group of 12 players on one-under.

England’s Justin Rose, last year’s winner at Aronimink, finished the day on level par.