The West Waterford man needs to win at Memorial Park to secure his third appearance at Augusta National, and he still has a chance after opening with a one-under 69 in wet and windy conditions in Texas. Power started on the back nine and turned in level par before making three birdies and two bogeys on the way home to share 36th place, four shots behind leaders Alejandro Tosti, Keith Mitchell, Taylor Pendrith and Ryan Gerard when play was suspended due to darkness. World number one and reigning Masters champion Scheffler was lurking just two shots off the pace after carding just his third bogey-free round this season and his first since the Farmers Insurance Open on February 23. "I felt like I started to play a little bit better on the back nine," said Scheffler, who got up and down seven times for par with six of those saves coming in his first 11 holes. "The first nine, I was kind of getting it around a little bit, but I still posted a score today. Conditions were pretty tough out there today with the rain and the wind, so overall nice to keep a clean card." The Texan has yet to hit the kind of form that saw him shoot 28 sub-par rounds in a row before his run ended with a second-round 70 in Houston 12 months ago. He won the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players last year and was joint second in Houston before winning the Masters and the following week's RBC Heritage. So far this year, he's had two top 10s and three top 25s in five starts, and he was pleased to see positive signs in demanding conditions yesterday. "Well, I'm always hoping there's some good golf around the corner, but I think today I did a good job, keeping a clean card is always really nice and posted a solid number,' Scheffler said. "Obviously, I think in every round you can always feel like you can do a little bit more out there, but overall, three under bogey-free is a good solid start to the week.” He added: "Overall, I think challenging conditions out there especially with the rain coming in and out and rain and wind can be pretty challenging as well, but overall did a pretty good job of keeping the card clean." Tosti, Mitchell, Pendrith and Gerard led by a shot from an eight-man group that featured Min Woo Lee, Victor Perez and Amgen Irish Open champion Rasmus Højgaard when play was suspended due to darkness with 16 players still to finish. But veteran Pádraig Harrington (74) was 136th after he made just one birdie against three bogeys and a double-bogey at the 16th in a four-over 74.