Brandishing a hot putter on a warm afternoon, Australian Nick O’Hern cruised to a career-low 63 and the first-round lead in the Frys.com Open on Thursday in Scottsdale, Ariz.

O’Hern, who finished at 7 under, putted only nine times while posting a 28 on the par-35 back nine at Grayhawk Golf Club. Eight of O’Hern’s nine birdies came in that stretch.

“Pretty scary,” O’Hern said. “I’ve never done that before. I was pretty happy.”

Bob Heintz and Heath Slocum were a stroke back at 64, and D.A. Points, Rory Sabbatini, Greg Owen and Rickie Fowler shot 65s. Ryan Moore of Puyallup (34-32) was one of 15 golfers to card 66s.

Fred Couples, who captained the United States to victory in the Presidents Cup earlier this month, shot a 67 in his first PGA Tour round in seven weeks.

With little wind on an 82-degree day in the desert, scores fell as players attacked Grayhawk’s Raptor Course.

Scores may keep dropping for the rest of the week. Temperatures are expected to reach the high 80s in each of the final three rounds.

“It’s like playing indoors,” said Paul Goydos, one of those at 66. “The weather is too good. I would expect you’re going to see a pretty bunched leaderboard all week.”

Indeed, O’Hern had to shoot the round of his life to eke out a one-stroke lead.

The short-hitting lefty hit the turn at even par, then caught fire. He birdied six straight holes before bogeying the par-3 16th when his tee shot rolled off the bank of the green and into the water.

He recovered to birdie the final two holes.

His longest putts were a 48-footer on the par-4 12th and a 20-footer on the par-4 17th.

Elsewhere

Australian Michael Sim had eight straight birdies and finished with a course-record 8-under 64 to take a three-stroke lead in the season-ending Nationwide Tour Championship at Daniel Island, S.C. Andrew Buckle and Justin Bolli opened with 67s. ... Defending champion Sergio Garcia shot an 8-under 63 on his home course to take the lead during the suspended first round of the Castello Masters in Castellon, Spain. Gusts up to 40 mph forced players off the course for three hours. Garcia had a one-stroke lead over Australia’s Robert Allenby and Sweden’s Michael Jonzon. Allenby had seven holes remaining.