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Geiberger leads with Love one back

Brent Geiberger had no reason to believe he would start the Buick Invitational with an 8-under-par 64. Davis Love III was right behind today, and had no reason to think he would be anywhere else.

And Tiger Woods wasn't sure what to think after another day of missed opportunities.

Geiberger, searching for a confidence boost after being injured last year and starting slowly his first three tournaments in 2001, chipped in for eagle and made a birdie putt from the fringe during his bogey-free round on the North Course at Torrey Pines.

"This is a nice start for me,'' he said.

It was only a continuation for Love, who last week ended an 0-for-63 drought on the PGA Tour by winning at Pebble Beach with a final-round 63 on Sunday. Love finished off his 65 today on the South Course by hitting 7-iron from 172 yards into 18 feet and making the eagle putt.

Brent Geiberger walks on to the 8th green on the way to a round of 64. Allsport.

Love wasn't even going to play this week, but changed his mind Sunday night.

"I usually don't like to play four weeks in a row,'' Love said. "But when you're making putts, you don't want to go home. I had some confidence before. Now, I have a lot of confidence. That makes you excited to go play.''

Chris Smith, who lost his card and spent last season on the Buy.com Tour, was another stroke back at 66.

Defending champion Phil Mickelson, still weak from a nasty bout of food poisoning on Monday, hit a 6-iron into 2 feet on the par-5 18th at the South Course for a tap-in eagle. He was in a large group at 68 that included Mark O'Meara and Jose Maria Olazabal.

It was the first time Mickelson set foot on the course all week.

"I feel better,'' he said. "I was feeling a little weak the last nine or 10 holes.''

Woods hit the ball well enough to be right in the mix, but after back-to-back lost chances at birdie, he took double bogey on the par-3 sixth hole, his 15th, when a strong breeze from the Pacific laid down about the time he fired his 6-iron into the cool air.

He wound up 10 yards over the green, chipped short of the green and wound up with a double bogey. A quick three-putt bogey two holes later and a two-putt birdie on his final hole left him at 70.

"I tried as hard as I could, it just didn't work out,'' Woods said, keep his answers short and curt. "I left a lot of shots out there.''

Seven of the last 10 winners of the Buick Invitational, such as Woods and Mickelson, have grown up in Southern California. Geiberger would love to join that list.

His only PGA Tour victory came two years ago in Hartford, but last year was one to forget. Geiberger started feeling numbness and tingling in his left shoulder, which he later discovered was a nerve problem, and hardly played toward the end of last year.

"You don't get to practice much,'' he said. "You don't have much recall on shots. And your confidence starts to go down.''

The start of this year was no help. He lost in the first round of the Accenture Match Play Championship in Australia, missed the cut in Tucson, and finished at the bottom in Phoenix.

Geiberger tried out a new putter Wednesday in the pro-am, decided to stick with it and reaped some surprisingly good results in the first round.

He made a couple of 12-footers, never easy to make on the bumpy poa annua greens of Torrey Pines, and then surged to the top with a stretch in which he was 5 under over five holes. One of those came on 326-yard second hole, when he drove 10 yards short of the green and played a nice bump-and-run with a sand wedge that went in for eagle.

A good start can only help his confidence.

"That's where Davis is,'' he said.

Love, who won the Buick Invitational five years ago, had a 65 despite not taking advantage of the par 5s. Twice he had a 3-iron into the green for his second shot, but left himself on the wrong side of the hole and couldn't convert.

It would have been easy for him to lose his patience if not for last week, especially since he had gone 34 months without winning. Love was a new man today -- relaxed, patient and excited about the way he's playing.

"It took a long time for Thursday to get here,'' Love said. "The flip side of that is that when you're not playing well, it's tough to want to get to the golf course and play.''

Love might not ever want to go home if he can keep this up. Once this week is over, he said he'll go back to Sea Island, Ga., until the Florida swing.

"Unless I keep playing well,'' he said. "Then I might play them all until the Masters.''

DIVOTS: Love is playing the first two rounds with Mickelson, but don't expect the subject of Pebble Beach to come up. Mickelson had a chance to force a playoff last week until hitting driver from the 18th fairway into the ocean. "I have better memories than he does, obviously,'' Love said. ... Geiberger was duly impressed with Love going 8 under on his first seven holes last week. After all, that seven-hole stretch broke the PGA Tour previously held by his father, Al Geiberger. ... Gary Hoffman, who grew up in San Diego and qualified for the Buick Invitational three times as an amateur, is playing on a sponsor's exemption. He opened with a 67.

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