THOUSAND OAKS, December 1, 2011 (AFP) - K.J. Choi made a blazing start and stayed steady in gusting winds Thursday to seize the first-round lead of the Chevron World Challenge, three shots ahead of tournament host Tiger Woods.
Choi birdied the first five holes at the par-72, 7,052-yard Sherwood Country Club course, set in rolling hills west of Los Angeles.
The South Korean veteran then held on as the blustery winds picked up, with unpredictable gusts of up to 35 miles per hour (56 kph), to finish at six-under 66, with Woods and fellow American Steve Stricker sharing second on 69.
"K.J.'s playing an amazing round because he's got most of it in the wind," said Woods, who played three groups in front of Choi and took advantage of the calm early conditions to birdie four of his first five holes.
"For him to play that well that early and then keep it going is one hell of a round."
Choi, who says he gets plenty of practice playing in Dallas, where he has a US home, said he just tried to stay consistent.
"My mindset was just to try and make par and try to be patient," he said.
Woods, the 14-time major champion who hasn't won in more than two years, finished with six birdies and three bogeys and said the conditions offered little chance to assess the state of his game.
"It was hard to tell anything out there because it was just dancing all over the place," Woods said.
After back-to-back bogeys at 15 and 16 dropped him to two-under, Woods smacked in a birdie putt at 17 to get back to three-under. Had it missed, he said, it would have gone several feet past.
"Thank God it went in," Woods said.
Stricker got to three-under with a 40-foot birdie putt at 18.
American Matt Kuchar got as low as four-under but was undone by a triple-bogey eight at the par-five 16th. Australian Jason Day was three-under through 15 before back-to-back double-bogeys at 16 and 17, followed by a bogey at the last that left him two-over.
Given the potential for disaster on the day, Woods was more than satisfied with his position.
"Anything under par is a good day today," he said.
First-round scores here on Thursday in the $5 million Chevron World Challenge golf tournament (USA unless noted, par-72):
66 - K.J. Choi (KOR)
69 - Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker
71 - Nick Watney, Jim Furyk, Rickie Fowler
72 - Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan
73 - Gary Woodland, Webb Simpson, Zach Johnson
74 - Jason Day (AUS), Bo Van Pelt
75 - Bubba Watson
76 - Keegan Bradley
77 - Martin Laird (SCO)
78 - Bill Haas
79 - Paul Casey (ENG)