Tom Lehman

His blistering opening round, a career low in which he fell just one shot shy of equaling  Mark Brooks' North Course record set in 1990, edged him one shot clear of little known Dean Wilson and two clear of Aaron Oberholser.

It also put him three shots ahead of early first-round leader Ernie Els, who also played the North Course and is tied for 4th with Tom Pernice Jr and Dudley Hart after all three signed for 65s.

Tiger Woods, in the meantime, is seven shots shy of Lehman who is all of nine shots clear of World No 1 Vijay Singh, winner of last week's Sony Open.

This week the big Fijian was never under par at any point in his round until he hit a wedge into about 8 feet on his final hole for birdie.

John Daly, the defending champion is even further back after shooting a level par 72.

"I'm doing a lot of things right that you need to do right out here," a delighted Lehman said after birdying nine of his final 12 holes, the last six on the trot, and shooting a blistering 29 on the back nine.

"It would have been nice to continue to the first tee on the South Course and keep going."

Perhaps - but if Lehman, a former Open Champion, had spoken to players like Woods and Singh and the other world top-tenners like a rusty-looking Phil Mickelson, who opened his 2005 debut with a level-par 72, or Sergio Garcia, who is tied with Woods on 69, he might have felt differently.

They all played the South Course - and struggled.

The mild-mannered North and hostile South courses where the first two rounds are being played are hardly comparable in their degrees of difficulty.

It was hugely significant that only two of the top 25 posted their scores on the South Course which plays at 7,568 yards, has two of the PGA Tour's toughest holes and will host the US Open in 2008.

They were young gun Aaaron Baddeley, who shot a superb 6-under 66 and is looking distinctly threatening, and his Australian compatriot Peter Lonard, who posted a 67.

The average score on the South Course was 72.43, compared with 69.56 on the North and with the difference being almost three shots, nobody will be really sure of just how well they are faring until the end of the 2nd round when the cut is made and the survivors go on to contest the final two rounds on the South Course.

Right now, though, Lehman is sitting pretty - and not only because he played
the easier course.

He hasn't won since 2000, but he has been playing solid golf since the end of last year when hours of work on his ailing short game started to kick in at the Bell Canadian Open.

Although he didn't win any of them, he finished the year by playing in the final group in three straight tournaments and then opened this season with a 9th-place tie in the Sony Open in Hawaii last week

"I'm hitting on the same things that I used to hit on when I was playing my best and I'm doing it with patience and ball control," said Lehman who posted 11 birdies in all.

"Put it in play and don't make too many mistakes, make a few putts. Some days you make more than others, but I feel like I'm in the same place as I was when I was playing my best."

At the rate he is going, the possibility exists that he might yet qualify for the Ryder Cup as a player and be forced to put aside the captaincy.

"It's a long way off, two years, and I haven't won a tournament since 2000," Lehman said. "It would be an upset if I made the team at this point. But if my game keeps progressing, you never know."

And he is certainly off to a wonderful start at Torrey Pines, regardless.

So too is Oberholser, who came close to winning a tournament in his rookie season last year.

"It's nice to get off to a good start, knowing I've got to play the Monster tomorrow," he said after his 64.

Woods isn't too unhappy, meanwhile, with his first round 71.

He started his season well at Kapalua where he tied for third with Els, then went home and stayed in bed for a week with the flu.

"I didn't feel like I was very strong out there," he said  on Thursday. "But hey, I hung in there and made a few putts. And lo and behold, I shot a round under par."

All the first round scores:
S -Torrey Pines South, 7,568 yards
N -Torrey Pines North, 6,874 yards
Both are par 72s (36-36)

-10 Tom Lehman 33-29-62N

-9 Dean Wilson 31-32-63N

-8 Arron Oberholser 32-32-64N

-7 Tom Pernice, Jr. 32-33-65N; Ernie Els 34-31-65N; Dudley Hart 33-32-65N

-6 Carl Pettersson 34-32-66N; Pat Perez 32-34-66N; Jason Bohn 33-33-66N; Aaron Baddeley 33-33-66S; Darron Stiles 35-31-66N; Charles Warren 34-32-66N

-5 K.J. Choi 34-33-67N; Peter Lonard 33-34-67S; D.J. Trahan 33-34-67N; Cameron Beckman 32-35-67N; Chris Riley 34-33-67N

-4 Luke Donald 34-34-68S; Craig Barlow 32-36-68S; Dan Forsman 35-33-68N; J.P. Hayes 36-32-68N; Jerry Kelly 36-32-68N; Harrison Frazar 33-35-68N; J.J. Henry 33-35-68N; Ryuji Imada 36-32-68N; Steven Alker 33-35-68N; Tom Gillis 33-35-68S; Kevin Stadler 34-34-68N; Tag Ridings 34-34-68N; Carl Paulson 33-35-68N; Patrick Sheehan 34-34-68N; Kevin Sutherland 33-35-68S; Bob Tway 35-33-68N; Euan Walters 34-34-68N

-3 Jesper Parnevik 37-32-69N; Hidemichi Tanaka 32-37-69N; Sergio Garcia 32-37-69S; Zach Johnson 35-34-69N; Ben Curtis 35-34-69N; Tiger Woods 33-36-69S; Shigeki Maruyama 33-36-69S; Scott Simpson 35-34-69N; Bernhard Langer 35-34-69N; Michael Long 34-35-69N; Brian Davis 36-33-69S; Sean O'Hair 35-34-69N; Fredrik Jacobson 36-33-69S; Tim Petrovic 34-35-69N; Billy Andrade 34-35-69S; Michael Allen 35-34-69N; Andre Stolz 34-35-69N; John Rollins 37-32-69N; Brett Quigley 34-35-69N; Mario Tiziani 35-34-69N

-2 Chris Smith 37-33-70S; Robert Damron 34-36-70S; Hideto Tanihara 34-36-70N; Bob Heintz 33-37-70N; Brendan Jones 34-36-70S; Scott Gutschewski 34-36-70N; Woody Austin 33-37-70N; Neal Lancaster 37-33-70N; David Hearn 35-35-70S

-1 Dennis Paulson 34-37-71S; Briny Baird 36-35-71N; Kent Jones 34-37-71N; Omar Uresti 36-35-71N; Hunter Mahan 35-36-71N; Bradley Hughes 34-37-71N; Vijay Singh 33-38-71S; Tommy Armour III 33-38-71S; Joey Sindelar 38-33-71N; J.L. Lewis 32-39-71S; Ian Poulter 37-34-71S; Hunter Haas 34-37-71N; Greg Owen 34-37-71N; D.J. Brigman 36-35-71S; James Driscoll 32-39-71S; Bill Haas 34-37-71S; Brandt Jobe 34-37-71S; Alex Cejka 35-36-71S; Billy Mayfair 36-35-71N; Joe Durant 37-34-71S; Franklin Langham 38-33-71N; Jay Haas 38-33-71S; Rory Sabbatini 35-36-71N; Phillip Price 35-36-71N; Charley Hoffman 34-37-71S;

E Skip Kendall 38-34-72S; Bill Glasson 33-39-72S; Bob Estes 37-35-72S;
Jeff Hart 36-36-72N; Phil Mickelson 36-36-72S; Rich Beem 37-35-72S; Frank Lickliter II 36-36-72N; Paul Gow 34-38-72S; Dick Mast 35-37-72N; Boyd Summerhays 35-37-72N; Doug Barron 36-36-72N; Bo Van Pelt 35-37-72N; Scott McCarron 34-38-72S; John Daly 37-35-72S; Mark O'Meara 35-37-72S; Jonathan Byrd 34-38-72S; Scott Hend 35-37-72S; Charles Howell III 36-36-72S; Jason Allred 36-36-72N; Charlie Wi 36-36-72N

+1Daniel Chopra 36-37-73N; Robert Allenby 37-36-73S; Jim Carter 35-38-73S; Vaughn Taylor 34-39-73S; Todd Fischer 37-36-73S; Matt Davidson 36-37-73; Nick Watney 37-36-73S; Gavin Coles 38-35-73N; Justin Rose 35-38-73S; Thomas Levet 32-41-73S; Len Mattiace 37-36-73S; Brad Faxon 34-39-73S; Corey Pavin 38-35-73S; Mark Wilson 37-36-73S; Joey Snyder III 37-36-73S; Rob Rashell 35-38-73N

+2 Steve Lowery 35-39-74S; Justin Leonard 35-39-74S; Steve Pate 36-38-74S; Roland Thatcher 38-36-74S; Toru Taniguchi 37-37-74S; Brett Wetterich 34-40-74N; Lucas Glover 36-38-74S; Rick Fehr 36-38-74S; Danny Briggs 39-35-74S; Will MacKenzie 37-37-74S; Fred Couples 38-36-74S; Chris Starkjohann 37-37-74N; Steven Hakes 36-38-74N; Justin Bolli 35-39-74S

+3 Duffy Waldorf 38-37-75S; Kevin Na 36-39-75S; John Elliott 38-37-75S; Ted Purdy 35-40-75S; Mark Calcavecchia 35-40-75S; Stephen Ames 36-39-75S; Jeff Brehaut 38-37-75N; John Cook 38-37-75S; Gregory Casagranda 40-35-75N;

+4 Chris Perry 39-37-76N; Paul Holtby 37-39-76S; Paul Claxton 38-38-76S; D.A. Points 37-39-76N

+5 Craig Perks 36-41-77S; Chris M. Anderson 37-40-77S

+7 David Duval 37-42-79S

+8 Hank Kuehne 39-41-80S

+11 Michael Beard 40-43-83S