Andrew Landry roared back from a slow start to shoot a 4-under par 69 Thursday in the opening round of the Tournament of Champions on the Kapalua Plantation Course in Maui.

The Port Neches-Groves ex, after playing his first six holes in two-over-par, birdied seven of his final 12 to finish in a five-way tie for sixth in the 34-player field. Landry is three shots behind leader Kevin Tway and two back of Gary Woodland, Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson.

After early bogeys at No. 3 and the par-5 fifth, where he had a penalty stroke, Landry started building some momentum by sinking a 5-foot birdie putt on the par-4 seventh. He followed up with a 6-footer for a birdie 4 at the ninth to turn in 36.

His birdies on the back came from 7 feet on the par-3 11th, 16 feet on the par-4 12th, from 3 feet on the par-5 15th, from 80 feet on a chip-in on the par-4 17th and from 9 feet on the par-5 18th.

Landry’s seven birdies were tied for second most in the field. Other notable stats included second in driving accuracy (14 of 15 fairways), fifth in strokes gained putting and strokes gained around the green and T7 in putts per green in regulation.

Second round action will be televised starting at 5 p.m. Friday on the Golf Channel.