It's a far cry from a year ago, when Brehaut sank a five-foot putt to finish tied for 30th here, a finish that at least let him skip to the finals of qualifying school.
"It was probably the fastest putt on the course, downhill left to right," recalled Brehaut, who has made the most of his tour exemption, posting four top-10 finishes, one shy of the journeyman's career total entering this year.
A career-best third-place finish at The International in August and a fourth at the Deutsche Bank Championship in September pushed him over the one million-dollar mark in earnings and into the 60s on the money list.
"It felt pretty good," he said. "I got my card back and the summer has been great, so I don't have to worry about Q-School this year."
Brehaut must reach the top 30 to be eligible for next month's Tour Championship. The climb is a bit less steep for The Masters, which invites the top 40 on the money list.
"(Earlier this year) I thought, 'If I can keep going on this pace, I could get Tour Championship or Masters,'" said Brehaut, who has missed three of his last four cuts. "I kind of backed off. For whatever reason, my swing got a little bit out of synch. "I missed a couple of cuts and didn't make much money. But this is an important week to move back up."
Starting on the back nine of the Westin Innisbrook Resort's Copperhead Course, Brehaut got to one-under with birdies at both par-fivess. Making the turn, he had an eagle at the par-five first hole by sinking a breaking 30-foot putt before adding three birdies en route to a 65. "I guess I played 15 feet of break (on the putt) and it was fast," he said. "It just trickled right in the front door. It was a great putt."
He had a two-stroke cushion over a group of five that included South African Retief Goosen, veteran Tom Lehman, Ben Crane, Charles Howell and Dean Wilson.
Lehman is also trying to get back to the Tour Championship, where he last played in 2001.
"The reason for playing here is I still have a chance for top
30," he said. "I think I need the top three to do that, but it certainly would be nice to do."
Davis Love, Jesper Parnevik and Bernhard Langer were among those another shot back on 68.
Defending champion Vijay Singh was well off the pace after a three-over 74.
A four-time winner this year, Singh missed the cut for the third time this season at last week's Funai Classic.
LEADING FIRST-ROUND SCORES (USA unless noted):
65 - Jeff Brehaut
67 - Ben Crane, Retief Goosen (RSA) Charles Howell, Tom Lehman, Dean Wilson
68 - Steve Allan (AUS), Lucas Glover, Bernhard Langer (GER), Peter Lonard (AUS), Davis Love, Steve Lowery, Billy Mayfair, Rocco Mediate, Jesper Parnevik (SWE)
69 - Marco Dawson, Steve Flesch, Neal Lancaster, Carl Pettersson (SWE), Chris Riley, Adam Scott (AUS), Charles Warren, Mark Wilson ...
70 - Stephen Ames (CAN), Alex Cejka (GER), Justin Rose (GBR)
71 - Robert Allenby (AUS), Daniel Chopra (SWE), Jose Coceres (ARG), Shigeki Maruyama (JPN), Rod Pampling (AUS), John Senden (AUS)
72 - Stuart Appleby (AUS), Aaron Baddeley (AUS), Carlos Franco (PAR), Nick Price (ZIM), Mike Weir (CAN)
73 - Steve Elkington (AUS), Greg Owen (GBR), Hidemichi Tanaka (JPN)
74 - Rory Sabbatini (RSA), Vijay Singh (FIJ)
75 - Geoff Ogilvy (AUS)
76 - Craig Perks (NZL)
77 - Tim Clark (RSA)
78 - Thomas Levet (FRA)
79 - KJ Choi (KOR), Tjaart Van Der Walt (RSA).