Bermuda’s Camiko Smith and Nick Jones produced respectable performances on the opening day of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship as records were broken at Port Royal on Thursday.

Smith finished his first 18 holes on even par, while fellow professional Jones came in at one over after starting his round on the back nine later in the day.

Despite feeling as if he left a few shots out on the course, Smith was satisfied with his round.

“I thought the round was pretty steady,” he told The Royal Gazette.

“I was steady with my shots, my wedges and my putting speed has been great, so I am happy with that.

“I feel like I’m in a really good space. It’s day one and I didn't shoot myself out of it, so I am still in it and have Friday to really grind and get back at it.

“I need to just clean up a little bit, hit a few more greens and give myself more chances at some birdies.”

Smith was one under heading to the 14th, where he made double bogey after his second shot to the green hit a sprinkler and went out of bounds.

“I had a bit of an unfortunate bounce on 14; hit a sprinkler head just off the green and bounced out of bounds, but those things happen,” Smith said. “I just blocked it out, stayed focus and kept going.”

Smith shrugged off the setback by rolling in a third birdie of the round at the 17th, albeit this time with the aid of a sprinkler head to move to even par, where he remained for the rest of the round.

“The ball was caught up in the sprinkler head and it saved me from rolling back off the hill, so I was able to two-putt, make my birdie and get out of there,” said Smith, who finished the day tied for 94th among the 120-strong field.

One shot back and tied for 106th is compatriot Jones, who is feeling good about his game despite also squandering birdie opportunities.

“I struggled a little bit on the greens but hit some good putts,” he said. “I definitely could’ve made some more putts, but besides that I feel really good about my game.

The Ocean View player was one under through 13 holes but was pegged back after making double bogey at 14 and a bogey at 15 to go to two over in the blink of an eye.

“I was under par, feeling good and just made mental lapses,” he said.

Jones rolled in his third birdie of the round on the penultimate hole to go to one over and then got up and down to save par on the last hole to finish on a brighter note.

“I birdied No 8, which I was very pleased with and made some clutch putts coming in so feeling good for tomorrow. It’s a pleasure to be out here with these guys and have to go low tomorrow,” he said.

Chandler Blanchet leads the field by one shot at nine under after firing an opening round of 62, which included two eagles and six birdies.

“Really solid day today. I hit it awesome, and made some good putts,” he said.

“I kind of had everything going. Really took advantage of the par 5s so that made a big difference.”

Corey Conners, Ben Kohles, Ben Silverman and Danny Walker are all tied at eight under, with Jonathan Byrd, Emiliano Grillo, Mackenzie Hughes, Chan Kim and Andrew Novak two shots off the lead pace at seven under.

Byrd set a new tournament record for most consecutive holes with an eagle or birdie with five straight from holes 6-10, going birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie, birdie. The previous best was four holes held by three players who all had an eagle and three birdies.

Kohles tied the tournament record for most birdies in a round with 11 in the first round. He is the third player to reach that mark.

Taylor Moore tied the tournament record for low back-nine score with a 29, which included an eagle and four birdies in the first round. He is the eighth player to hit that mark, with Smith also achieving that feat in 2021.

Defending champion Adam Schenk shot 75 to get his title defence off to a poor start.

Schenck sits in 119th, one spot above Bermuda Open champion Virgilio Paz, whose 78 left him at the bottom of the leaderboard.