Frenchman Thomas Levet and American Brandt Jobe fired seven-under-par 65s to set the pace in the Buick Invitational first round as defending champion Tiger Woods made a poor start.
Ryder Cup player Levet and Jobe each reeled off seven birdies in blemish-free displays on the North Course at Torrey Pines, the easier of the two par-72 layouts hosting the tournament.
Australia's Stuart Appleby, winner of the season-opening Mercedes Championships, was among a group of nine players tied for third on 66 after spectacularly holing out with a wedge for an eagle two late in his round.
Arguably the best round of the day, though, came from Sweden's Jesper Parnevik who shot a seven-birdie 67 at the 7,568-yard South Course.
"Any time you shoot under-par on the South Course, you're very happy," said Parnevik, one of just six players in the top 40 who started on the South Course. "They made that course into a monster, especially with the rough they have."
It was a not a day to remember, though, for world number one Woods in his first event of the year.
A three-times winner at Torrey Pines, he struggled with his new Nike driver for most of the round before completing a 71 on the North Course.
After teeing off at the 10th on a calm and cool morning, Woods got to three-under with eight holes to play but lost ground with three consecutive bogeys from the fourth.
He did well to scramble a par at the 436-yard eighth, after hooking his drive behind a tree and finding the left rough short of the green with his second shot, before recovering with a birdie at his final hole, the par-five ninth.
"I really struggled today," Woods admitted. "I kept hitting my driver short and right for some reason.
"The only two good drives I hit today I buried under the lip on two and then in the first cut (of rough) on nine. I knew what I was doing, I just couldn't stop it."
