After missing the cut at the season-opening Sentry in Maui last week, the world No.44 managed his way through windy conditions and “kind of exploded a bit” in his run home with five birdies in his final six holes to card an opening round 8-under 62.

It gave Davis a two-shot lead over American Taylor Montgomery at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu as he looks to build on a barnstorming finish to 2023

“Honestly I felt like I was just a little rusty. Just didn’t have much — well, didn’t put many rounds of golf together before last week and it kind of showed early in the week,” Davis said.

“As it progressed I started figuring out what wasn’t working, what was working and, yeah, Sunday last week I started to put some consistent shots together.

“I thought, well, as long as I can build off that round and continue that on to this week and next week, that is the sort of momentum I was looking for. It was very cool to back it up with a really good round.

“Yeah, just kind of built a round slowly and then kind of exploded a little bit there at the end with a few in a row yeah, very relaxing to not be stressing for pars today and having lots of putts for birdie.”

Davis rose to a career-high best ranking of 42 in 2023 and had top-10 finishes in six of his final nine events to secure a spot in the top-50 and a place at next year’s Masters.

“I felt like the first three quarters of the season was probably a C, C minus. The last couple months turned into close to an A for me,” he said.

“To turn it from where I was mentally and the swing where I made a bunch of Top 10s in a row to get to the Playoffs, that was a very satisfying way it end it all.

“I would say B overall. I would like to think I have a lot more in the tank and a lot more good results coming my way this year and to improve upon that. I felt like I did an amazing job just personally where I felt I was at midway through last year to solidify a pretty good schedule this year.”

Davis is the only Australian in the Sony Open.