New South Welshman Matt Jones flourished late in his round to be just one shot off the lead when darkness halted play late on the opening day at the US PGA tour event at Riviera Country Club.

Jones fired a tidy four-under-par 67 on the iconic Los Angeles layout in the morning wave to sit in a tie for second just one shot behind big hitting American Dustin Johnson, whose 66 led the way.

“I just got off to a good start and just continued to play really solid all day,” Johnson said.

“I kept it in play and hit a lot of greens and had a lot of looks at birdie.”

The 33-year-old Jones shot out of the blocks with back-to-back birdies to start the day but dropped a shot back with bogey on the eighth.

His birdie on the 11th was cancelled out by a following hole bogey before he stormed up the leaderboard with a fast finish.

“If I can get the putter working a little better I’ll be very happy,” he said.

Marc Leishman was the next-best Australian after a two-under 69 left him in a tie for 19th.

The Victorian opened with a birdie but handed the shot back with bogey on the second.

A string of three birdies in a row around the turn helped his cause before a bogey at the 12th stunted his momentum.

Aaron Baddeley, the 2011 champion, was sitting pretty at three-under through 13 holes before a disastrous four-putt led to a double bogey.

Constantly one of the best putters on tour, Baddeley amazingly three-putted from inside three-feet on the fifth hole to derail his round.

As one of 15 players yet to complete the round he finished at one-under with a hole to play.

He was joined by Greg Chalmers (70) as the only other Australians under par in a tie for 35th.

John Senden and 2001 event champion Robert Allenby shot rounds of 71 while Stuart Appleby and Steven Bowditch were a shot further back at 72.

Former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy struggled to a round of 74.