Luke Donald and Brian Davis led the way after the first round of the Honda Classic on Thursday.

Donald, who won the event when it was held at nearby Mirasol in 2006, fired a bogey-free six-under-par 64 on the PGA National course.

Fellow Englishman Davis, without a PGA Tour win, was a shot behind and Australian Matthew Jones carded a 66.

"It was a very good round today for me. I really played pretty consistently throughout the day," said Donald.

"I already did a lot of good things around the greens and when I had my chances I took them. I didn't drive it particularly well. I need to improve that," said Donald, who found only seven of 14 fairways.

"Coming into this week I have high expectations. I obviously feel good enough to win out here but I am trying to feel like I am just going through the process of getting better every day and hopefully the results will follow," he added.

Donald's other PGA tour win came at Annandale in 2002 and this is only the third time he has led a tournament after the opening 18 holes.

The highlight of Davis's round was the last of his five birdies, at the 16th, where he sank a superb 50-foot putt from the edge of the green.

"Any time you can make no bogeys on this golf course, you've done really well," he said. "Today was one of those days, things were going my way and I made the putts at the right time. Here, if you hit one bad shot you can make a double in a heartbeat," he said.

Davis suffered a neck injury in November and is still only at 80 percent strength.

"It still niggles a bit but everything is better, it's more a case of getting back the strength," he said. "We all want to hit the ball hard. It is a bomber's game now and you can't afford not to," he said.

Three-times major winner Ernie Els carded a 67.