India, Jan. 24 -- Indian-origin golfers Akshay Bhatia, Sudarshan Yellamaraju and Sahith Theegala made slow starts at La Quinta Country Club to find themselves down on leader board at the American Express.

Bhatia opened with a solid 4-under 68 to sit at-71, while Sudarshan, coming off an impressive tied-13th finish last week, carded a 2-under 70 on the Nicklaus Tournament Course but found himself down the leaderboard at T-106 due to the exceptionally low scoring. Theegala, competing on the Pete Dye Stadium Course - the toughest of the three - posted a 1-under 71 and was T-118 at day's end.

Earlier, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler delivered a very solid bogey-free opening round of 9-under 63 to sit one shot off the lead. The American Expres...