The New York Times-20080125-The Stars Lurk Behind a Lesser-Known Leader

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The Stars Lurk Behind a Lesser-Known Leader

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Each year during the first two rounds of the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines Golf Course, there is enough bickering about North and South to cause one to wonder if they made a wrong turn into a Civil War symposium. This is because the field plays one round on each of the two layouts for the first two rounds of the Buick, which as often as not produces an unknown leader who shot a crazy number on the easier Torrey Pines North Course rather than the sprawling 7,300 yards of seaside golf that is the South.

That was not the case Thursday when an unheralded player took the first-round lead by shooting a crazy number on the South Course, which played, as usual, about two and a half strokes tougher than the North.

Troy Matteson, winner of the 2006 Frys.com Open, managed to birdie eight holes and bogey only one to shoot a 65 on the South. He led by one stroke over Brad Adamonis, whose 66 came on the North, and two strokes over Tiger Woods, who shot 67 without ever hitting a fairway on the South. Phil Mickelson, who was the pretournament cofavorite with Woods, struggled to a two-under-par 70 on the North.

It may yet get back to Woods-Mickelson, but it will take some playing on Mickelson's part. He is tied for 21st with a dozen players. Woods, meanwhile, is tied for third with three golfers, including Rory Sabbatini, who was last in the same vicinity as Woods when he withdrew from Woods's Target World Challenge invitational one month ago without a word to the host. The two walked wordlessly past one another as they passed outside the interview room. More on that later.

First, a word from Matteson, whose 65 on the South Course is about as good as it gets, especially given the gusty, cold and wet conditions Thursday.

For me, I probably won't top that for a while, Matteson said. It's typically a golf course where most guys are just thinking, If I can shoot even, one under, two under, and then go to the North Course and really make up my numbers there, that's kind of your tournament. So we're looking forward to going to that North Course.

Woods is looking forward to the same thing. He may have gotten away with his bad round here, where it did not seem to matter what club he chose off the tee.

Driver, 3-wood, 5-wood, I couldn't hit any of them any good, he said. It was either low-left pull or high-right spinner with everything. It's a little tough to aim when you've got it going both ways.

Such a spraying situation does not often afflict Woods but, if it is going to surface, it might as well be at Torrey Pines, where he has been winning since his junior golf days and where he seemingly can summon something extra any time he needs to overcome some temporary deficiency in his game.

On this day his iron game was as flawless as his tee shots were errant. He nailed a 6-iron to within 6 feet of the flag at No. 4 for his first birdie, then overcame a hot low-left tee shot at No. 5 by chipping out from the trees and lasering a 118-yard 9-iron 3 feet from the hole, making the putt for par.

He added birdies at the 8th, 10th, 11th, 13th, 14th and 15th before making his only bogey of the day at the 227-yard, par-3 16th when his 3-iron came up short and his pitch to 10 feet was missed.

Shooting 67 always is going to feel pretty good on the South Course, Woods said. It was actually pretty interesting today because a lot of pins were in the back, and these greens were so soft that every ball is just ripping back. You hit just little ones, 120-yard, 115-yard 9-irons, and they're still ripping back 10, 15 feet.

It was a little bit of a test out there. But you just had to keep patient. You know, get the ball on the green and try and make a putt, and if it doesn't go in, try not to leave yourself a second one, that's for sure.

That is how Woods turned a potential 73 into a 67. As for Sabbatini, his 67 on the North was not nearly as eventful as Woods's on the South. He birdied two of the par-5s, a couple of par-4s and one par-3. He parred the rest. His 25 putts tied for fifth lowest, and his confidence level might tie for highest.

Sabbatini professed to not understand what the fuss was about when he left the Target without a word to Woods. He seems to have figured it out. He donated the $177,000 check he received from Target to the United Through Reading program, which connects separated military families by sending taped bedtime stories from soldier parents in war zones to children at home.

When Woods heard Sabbatini had donated the exact amount of the check to a military charity, he nodded and said, Oh, that's good.

Time will tell if this is the end of it, as it will tell if Woods's opening 67 on a bad day spelled the end of the tournament for the rest of the field. Matteson played in the final group with Woods last year and watched him shut the door on Charles Howell III late Sunday, when Howell and Woods came to the 17th hole with one stroke separating them.

Charles hits a pretty good shot up there maybe 15 feet, Matteson said. It looked like if he did something coming in he might have been able to catch up. Tiger hits it in there with a 9-iron to like 2 1/2 feet. Charles just goes, 'You know what, just when you think he's going to let you in, he just puts you away.'

[Illustration]PHOTOS: Phil Mickelson was at two-under-par 70, tied for 21st place, after the first round of the Buick Invitational on Thursday. (PHOTOGRAPH BY JEFF GROSS/GETTY IMAGES); Troy Matteson, left, took the lead with a 65. Tiger Woods, above, is tied for third place, two strokes off the pace. (PHOTOGRAPH BY MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS)(PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS PARK/ASSOCIATED PRESS)