Matthew Hoffman struck form with the putter on the first day of the $60,000 Gosling’s Invitational at Belmont Hills, rolling in two eagles and three birdies in an impressive round of four-under-par 66 that left him one shot clear of the chasing pack.The Canadian birdied the par-four third, 10th and 14th holes but saved the best for the par-five sixth and 12th where he drained two long putts for eagle.He hit a two iron off the tee at six that left him 170 yards shy of the green and then got up and down for eagle, rolling in a 15-foot putt.Hoffman also reached the green in two at the par-five 12th where he sunk a 20-foot putt from behind the hole after ripping another solid drive off the tee.“I felt pretty good with the putter and I’m a lot more comfortable on the long ones than the short ones just because the greens have a lot of green in them,” he said. “It’s tough to commit to the short ones but the longer ones I felt pretty good over.”Hoffman also felt “pretty good” with his opening round performance.“Anything under par is a good score out here so I’ll take today which was a very good start and hopefully I can be patient for the rest of the week and keep on going,” he said. “It’s one of those courses where you are going to make some bogeys so it’s very important to stay patient.”The only blemishes on Hoffman’s scorecard arrived at the par-fourth ninth and 15th holes which he bogeyed.Hoffman’s younger brother, Mark, making his first Gosling’s Invitational appearance, came in at even par to grab a share of ninth place.“I played last year and had so much fun I decided I’d bring him this year and he’s having fun as well,” Hoffman said. “It’s a long tournament so who knows what will happen in the next three days.”Also getting off to a solid start yesterday was defending champion Joe Horowitz who shot a two-under-par 68 to take sole possession of third.The American singer/songwriter carded four birdies and also eagled the par-five sixth.After reaching the green in two, Horowitz holed a 20-foot putt just off the back fringe for eagle.“That was the only putt of substance I made all day,” he said. “If it was a song it’d be called ‘the one that got away’! Hit it great but made no putts.”The two-time Gosling’s champ bogeyed two holes and ended his round with a double bogey at the par-four 18th.“I know you can’t win it the first round, but you can lose it,” he added. “So I’m in pretty good shape and swinging great. They’re going to have to rip that trophy out of my hands to get it.”Bermuda’s Dwayne Pearman also placed himself in early contention after carding a one-under-par 69 to grab a share of fourth place.The Port Royal pro’s round included four birdies and three bogeys.“I hit a couple of good shots and a couple of bad ones but the end result wasn’t bad,” Pearman said. “It was a little up and down and I made two bogeys at par fives which was not good.”Bermuda’s Chris Garland and Hav Trott led the amateur and senior fields respectively after day one.Garland shot a two-over-par 72 to open up a one-shot lead over defending champion Gray Yancey (USA) while Trott’s even-par 70 left him five shots clear of nearest rival Jeffrey Lindo.Trott, whose round included four birdies, a bogey and a double bogey, is the defending senior champion.