Brendan Steele fired an eight-under-par 62 to seize a one-shot lead after the opening round at the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship on Thursday.

The American golfer is seeking his second win on the US PGA Tour and his first since capturing the Texas Open three years ago.

“I felt pretty good over the last couple of months, but haven’t been getting a lot out of it,” Steele said.

Fellow Americans Bud Cauley and Ryan Moore finished the first round of the $US6.2 million ($A6.71 million) event tied for second at seven-under 63 at River Highlands golf course.

Steele was eight under through 13 holes and couldn’t help but start thinking about a 59.

“It definitely was in the back of my mind, so it probably amped me up a little bit more and made everything a little bit tougher,” he said.

Aaron Baddeley led the Australian contingent after opening with a three-under 67, two shots clear of Matt Jones and Stuart Appleby.

Marc Leishman, Jason Day and Oliver Goss all carded level-par opening rounds of 70.