Korea’s Si Woo Kim took advantage of a lucky bounce and produced a miraculous chip-in birdie on the demanding 18th hole at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard for sit at T6 after Thursday.

The four-time PGA TOUR winner battled to a 2-under 70 on a tough scoring day to trail first-round leader Wyndham Clark (67) by three, with Keegan Bradley, Shane Lowry, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Corey Conners sharing second place after matching 69s.

Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama was the next best Asian at T19 after a 73 which featured two birdies over his closing three holes, as scores soared due to swirly winds and a tough course set-up which yielded an average score of 74.6.

Kim was relieved to escape with an unlikely birdie on the par-4 18th hole, ranked fourth hardest for the day, after his approach shot ricochetted off some rocks in a water hazard guarding the front of the green before landing in thick rough. After a free drop, he brilliantly chipped in from about 80 feet.

“The wind pushed the ball to the right, but luckily it stayed in play and I went on to chip in (for birdie)," the 29-year-old Kim said. "It was nice to finish the round on a positive note.

“It was a good round. It was very windy out there, especially with the rough being up. It played a little hard but I just kept patient and got a great finish. I'm looking forward to the next few days.”

It was only Kim’s sixth round of 70 or better at Bay Hill in what was his 28th round. Kim, making his 10th start in the event, knows he needs to stick closely to the proverbial one-shot-at-a-time routine at a venue where his best finish is T26 in 2022. “You need to wait for opportunities. I plan to keep working hard for the next three days,” said Kim, who is still without a top-10 this season.

He found only seven fairways and 12 greens in regulation, and converted birdies on Nos. 5, 13 and 16 against dropped shots on the third and sixth holes.

“With the wind, the ball moves a lot," he said. "It's a bit challenging to calculate the wind. It’s similar to practice conditions in Dallas (his home base), where the wind is also strong, so I felt okay trying to manage the conditions,” he said.

Defending champion and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler opened his campaign with a 71 while world No. 3 Xander Schauffele, making his first start following a rib injury, shot a 77.