Scotland's Russell Knox took the sting out of 'The Snake Pit's' final hole and then set his sights on Augusta National during the opening round of the Valspar Championship.

Knox delighted his visiting parents in holing a superb seven-foot birdie putt at the last in a round of a two under par 69 on the Copperhead course at Tampa Bay.

It handed the Scot a clubhouse share of 13th place just three shots behind American Sean O'Hair in the $US 5.9m event.

Knox is returning to competition after sharing third place behind double-winning Open Champion Padraig Harrington in last fortnight's Honda Classic.

And after he spent the week 'relaxing on the couch' the current world No.76-ranked Knox has sprung back to competition setting himself the

goal of breaking into the top 50 by the month's end and the assurance of a first Masters invitation.

"I had a very relaxing week off and didn't do very much as the weather wasn't great, so I spent most of the time on the couch and getting myself recharged," he said.

"My game feels as good as it's ever felt and my goal now, aside from getting that first PGA Tour victory, is a Masters invitation.

"The Masters is now a huge goal being as close to the top 50 as I am, so I've also entered next week's Arnold PalmerInvitational and then I'm also going to play the Valero Texas Open.

"If I don't earn a Masters invitation I will then take the week off and not play the Houston Open and the week prior to Augusta.

"So I just want to keep playing good and hopefully I will make it to Augusta.

"As well, I would like to also qualify for the Match-Play Championship at the end of next month in San Francisco but it's the Masters that's now my first focus.

"I played very good today and also played smart in

hitting tee to green while I putted well on these tricky greens."

In contrast, Harrington returned to competition after ending a seven-year PGA Tour winless drought 10 days ago in capturing as second Honda Classic title.

However Harrington slumped under the weight of two double bogeys, three bogeys and just two birdies in a round of a five over par 76.

And fellow Open champion John Daly, who slammed the PGA Tour ahead of the event saying its anti-doping policies were a 'joke', posted an 81 and less than a week in sharing 10th place in the Puerto Rico Open.