Justin Rose

The 24-year-old Englishman carded a flawless seven-under-par 65 to sit behind a group of five players sharing the lead.

Rose, who started on the 10th at Bermuda Dunes CC, set the mood for a blistering round with a string of three consecutive birdies from the 11th.

Another four birdies followed before the end of his bogey-free 18 holes, but he he still trailed Robert Damron, Fred Funk, Joe Ogilvie, Ted Purdy and Duffy Waldorf who all shot 8-under 64s.

A total of 31 golfers fired rounds of 67 or better at this five-round event, in which players rotate on four of the easiest courses on Tour and where the true front runners don't really emerge until each player has played all the courses.

A week after tying for 14th at last week's Buick Invitational, Damron started strong with birdies on five of his first seven holes. He finished with a flourish with birdies on the 15th and 16th before an eagle at the par-five 18th.

"Pretty good bookends. I did not quite get it done in the middle of the round, but you cannot complain overall at eight under," Damron said.

Fred Couples is in the group with Rose a shot back and they are tied with Neal Lancaster, Franklin Langham and Nick Watney.

Couples carded a bogey-free round and, like Rose, birdied three of the four par-five holes.

"I drove the ball really well and the longest putt I made was eight feet," Couples said.

"I hit a lot of good short irons and made seven birdies without any bogeys so it was a good day."

Defending champion Phil Mickelson is two shots back at six under and looking for a repeat jump start to his season.

Mickelson won here last season to break an 18-month winless streak and start a roll that included breaking his Majors drought with a win at The Masters in April.

Canadian Mike Weir also won the Masters after his victory here in 2003, but while his opening 71 here on Wednesday would have been a more than half-decent score at most US PGA Tournaments, it left him trailing in  91st place and in the cut zone at La Quinta.

The strange, sad saga of David Duval's decline continues. The former World No 1 shot an opening 10-over 82 to languish at the bottom of the scoresheet.

All the 1st round scores:

-8 Robert Damron 31-33-64; Ted Purdy 32-32-64; Duffy Waldorf 33-31-64; Joe Ogilvie 31-33

-7 Fred Funk 31-33; Franklin Langham 32-33; Fred Couples 32-33-65
Justin Rose 33-32-65; Neal Lancaster 33-32-65; Nick Watney 32-33-65

-6 Phil Mickelson 34-32-66; Justin Leonard 33-33-66; Ryuji Imada 34-32-66; Peter Jacobsen 35-31-66; Joe Durant 34-32-66; Rob Rashell 31-35-66; Jason Allred 29-37-66

-5 Skip Kendall 33-34-67; Ryan Palmer 34-33-67; J.L. Lewis 32-35-67; Brian Bateman 35-32-67; Tim Petrovic 33-34-67; Bill Haas 35-32-67; Peter Lonard 33-34-67; Harrison Frazar 33-34-67; Hidemichi Tanaka 37-30-67; Pat Perez 37-30-67; Billy Mayfair 36-31-67; Todd Fischer 33-34-67; Tom Pernice, Jr. 32-35-67; Jim Furyk 33-34-67

-4 Craig Stadler 33-35-68; Kenny Perry 35-33-68; Stewart Cink 33-35-68; Andrew Magee 34-34-68; Fredrik Jacobson 34-34-68; Craig Barlow 34-34-68; Steve Lowery 33-35-68; Jesper Parnevik 34-34-68; Briny Baird 32-36-68; Jeff Sluman 34-34-68; Loren Roberts 31-37-68; Jerry Kelly 34-34-68; Joey Sindelar 37-31-68; Kevin Sutherland 33-35-68; Danny Briggs 34-34-68; Olin Browne 33-35-68; Tim Herron 35-33-68; Brent Geiberger 35-33-68; D.A. Points 33-35-68; Kevin Na 33-35-68; Bart Bryant 35-33-68; Paul Goydos 33-35-68; Brian Davis 33-35-68

-3 Patrick Sheehan 33-36-69; Shaun Micheel 33-36-69; John Huston 35-34-69; Scott Verplank 34-35-69; Tommy Armour III 36-33-69; David Toms 33-36-69; Mark O'Meara 34-35-69; Alex Cejka 34-35-69; Bo Van Pelt 36-33-69; Chris DiMarco 34-35-69; Robert Allenby 35-34-69; Jeff ; Maggert 36-33-69; Billy Andrade 33-36-69; Stephen Ames 34-35-69; Phillip Price 34-35-69; John Senden 33-36-69; Per-Ulrik Johansson 35-34-69

-2 Dudley Hart 36-34-70; Steve Allan 35-35-70; J.J. Henry 36-34-70; Rich Beem 34-36-70' Steve Elkington 34-36-70; Corey Pavin 36-34-70; Jay Haas 35-35-70; Bernhard Langer 36-34-70; Frank Lickliter II 36-34-70; Cameron Beckman 36-34-70; Chris Smith 37-33-70; Davis Love III 36-34-70; Tim Clark 37-33-70; Mark Brooks 36-34-70; Ian Poulter 36-34-70; Michael Allen 35-35-70; Carl Pettersson 38-32-70; Robert Gamez 34-36-70; Mark Calcavecchia 37-33-70; Steve Jones 35-35-70; Chris Riley 35-35-70

-1 John Cook 35-36-71; Sandy Lyle 33-38-71; Jonathan Kaye 36-35-71; Matt Gogel 33-38-71; Mike Weir 34-37-71; Kirk Triplett 38-33-71; Donnie Hammond 33-38-71; Tom Kite 35-36-71; Bob Tway 36-35-71; Paul Claxton 35-36-71; Tag Ridings 34-37-71; Heath Slocum 36-35-71; Kent Jones 36-35-71

E Kevin Stadler 35-37-72; Paul Azinger 36-36-72; Jay; Williamson 35-37-72; Mark McCumber 34-38-72; John Riegger 35-37-72; John Daly 36-36-72; Hank Kuehne 35-37-72; Glen Hnatiuk 35-37-72; Ben Curtis 36-36-72; Chris Starkjohann 37-35-72

+1 Brian Gay 38-35-73; Aaron Baddeley 38-35-73; Steve Flesch 36-37-73; Ben Crane 37-36-73; Daniel Chopra 35-38-73

+2 Brad Faxon 37-37-74; Geoff Ogilvy 35-40-75

+3 Lee Janzen 37-38-75; Stephen Leaney 38-37-75; Scott McCarron 38-37-75

+4 Lanny Wadkins 39-37-76

+5 Dennis Paulson 36-41-77

+10 David Duval 42-40-82