He was three shots clear of compatriot Brett Wetterich, Swede Fredrik Jacobson and Britain’s Lee Westwood.

Gogel, who has missed the cut in nine of 13 events this season and is without a top 15 finish, began his round at the Congressional Golf Club with five consecutive pars then struck red-hot form with birdies on eight of his next 12 holes.

Jacobson and Wetterich also produced tidy opening rounds of five-under 66, both mixing a single bogey with six birdies.

Westwood had a slightly more adventurous start with a pair of bogeys and seven birdies and is three shots off the pace.

South African Retief Goosen, who will defend his U.S. Open title next week at Pinehurst, had a rollercoaster start mixing five birdies with four bogeys to sit seven off the lead on one-under 70.

World number one Vijay Singh, who had a miserable outing last week at the Memorial where he failed to make the cut, continued to search for his best form settling for an even-par 71.

Leading scores:

63 - Matt Gogel

65 - Kevin Stadler

66 - Fredrick Jacobson, Lee Westwood, Brett Wetterich

67 - Craig Perks, Jim Furyk, Kevin Sutherland, Michael Allen, Paul Goydos, Ben Crane, Steve Allan, Tim Clark

68 - Tom Pernice, Geoff Ogilvy, Tommy Armour, Billy Mayfair, Tom Byrum, Steve Elkington, Richard S. Johnson, Tom Kite, Adam Scott, Robert Allenby.

DUTCH OPEN

HILVERSUM (Netherlands): Scores from the Dutch Open Round one on Thursday.

66 Paul Broadhurst, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Adam Groom, Henrik Nystroem, Guido van der Valk

67 Markus Brier, Pierre Fulke, Raymond Russell

68 Joakim Baeckstroem, Robert-Jan Derksen, Marcus Fraser, James Heath, Fredrik Henge, Maarten Lafeber, Ben Mason, Damien McGrane, Mark Roe, Johan Skoeld, Kyron Sullivan, Benoit Teilleria.—Agencies