Birdies on six, seven and eight saw him climb the leaderboard before a bogey five on the par four ninth saw him drop.
"This course is never easy, I made a couple [of birdies] early which helped," Van Pelt told the PGA Tour website.
He hit further birdies on seven and nine before four consecutive from 11 through 14 in a bogey-free round.
Bowditch posted four birdies on the final nine for an 18-under par total of 259 at the TPC Four Seasons Resort in Irving on Sunday [Monday AEST].
A blip at 10 was followed by four birdies in the next five holes, while another bogey at 17 meant he shot a 64 first round.
That took him to three under and with the momentum he picked up three more birdies in consecutive holes.
American Jason Dufner and Scot Russell Knox are a further two shots back are posting opening rounds of 66. Starting on the back nine, Knox was consistent over his first nine holes with three birdies and his form continued with a birdie on the second.
The copywriter-cum-author must settle for a first printing of 100,000 copies a large run of his debut novel, "Fourth of July Creek .In this section Birdies, bribes and bulldozers Song of exile Lost in the woods Fortune-told A history of violence Busy doing nothing ReprintsMr Henderson's book started as two manuscripts: one about a flawed social worker, the other about a paranoid survivalist.
Justin Marozzi's epic history of Baghdad, subtitled "City of Peace, City of Blood", both reinforces this sense and gives good reasons to see beyond it.In this section Birdies, bribes and bulldozers Song of exile Lost in the woods Fortune-told A history of violence Busy doing nothing ReprintsBaghdad was born in 762AD straight into the fitna, the split between Sunni and Shia Muslims.
He made birdies when he needed to.
The following year, he made 28 birdies during Masters play to set a new tournament record, and he became the only golfer in the tournament's history to reach 19 under par at any point during the four days of play.
