By Jeremy Harness

Apparently, the sting of losing in a playoff days earlier didn’t last very long at all for J.B Holmes.

The Kentucky native, who fell to Australia’s Jason Day on the second playoff hole of last weekend’s Farmers Insurance Open, is off to a blistering start at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. He is tied with Justin Hicks for the lead after shooting an eight-under 64 at Pebble Beach on Thursday.

The good vibes started immediately for Holmes, who is only more than three years removed from brain surgery. He began his day at the 10th, holing out from the fairway for an eagle, and he was off and running from there.

Of course, the conditions are more than optimal for scoring, as the local temperature was around 75 degrees with little wind issues, and it is expected to be in the high 70s throughout the weekend, which is highly unusual for this time of year and had most – if not all – players almost in a state of shock.

“The weather was awesome, so it was a lot of fun to be able to play this golf course with not a lot of wind and nice temperature,” Holmes said. “It was just a good day all around.

“Any time you get great weather and be able to play a beautiful place like that all day, you’re thinking, ‘This is perfect,’ and even if you don’t hit a good shot, the weather and this view is pretty amazing.”

Another notable is John Daly, an immensely-popular player who had struggled with his game in recent years but has pulled it back together lately, is right behind Holmes and Hicks with a seven-under 65.

“I love plying this golf course,” Daly said. “It’s just great to be able to come out here and not have to survive the (usually bad) weather and survive the golf course.

“But we’ll just see what happens (from here).”

Meanwhile, Dustin Johnson, who made his season debut last week at the Farmers after a six-month hiatus from the PGA Tour, is two under par after the first day and has a real shot at making the cut, a week after missing the cut by one stroke in La Jolla.