Leonard takes narrow opening lead

Justin Leonard made a few changes in his swing for his own sake, not in an effort to catch Tiger Woods. He couldn't complain about the results today in the Mercedes Championships.

Coming off a 46-hole tuneup in Australia, Leonard found his groove in the fierce trade winds for a 6-under-par 67 in the first round of the winners-only Mercedes to take a one-stroke lead over Ernie Els.

Woods, in his first tournament of the year after his record-breaking 2000 season, made only one glaring mistake, but it cost him. Trying to hit a driver off the fairway on the par-5 ninth, he pulled it into waist-high weeds and had to make a 4-footer to save bogey.

Still, the defending champion controlled the trajectory of his shots beautifully in the wind and wound up with a 70, only three strokes out of the lead and his 48th consecutive round at par or better on the PGA Tour.

"I shot the worst score I could have possibly shot, but I'm still right there,'' Woods said.

Leonard missed the Mercedes a year ago after failing to win a PGA Tour event for the first time since 1995, so the Texas Open champ was thrilled to be in Maui. He played like it on a warm, windy day, despite a couple of long three-putts for bogeys on the front nine.

"The holes that I'm supposed to score low on, I feel like I did, with little wedges and things like that,'' Leonard said. "I played pretty well through the elements.''

Els, a semifinalist in Match Play last week, has again given himself a good chance at Kapalua. A year ago, he matched Woods shot for shot until losing on the second hole of a playoff when Woods made a 40-foot birdie putt.

The Big Easy took his lumps on the par-5 fifth by misjudging the wind and not clearing a 100-foot gorge in front of the green. He made up for it on the 633-yard closing hole with a 5-iron from 250 yards into 6 feet for eagle.

It was a solid round for Els, considering he missed birdie putts of 10, 5, and 12 feet on the final five holes.

It wasn't a horrible start for Woods, either.

The wind was evident from the start, when Woods played a simple flop shot from just over the green, about 20 feet behind the flag. Even over such a short distance, his chip faded into the wind, landing 6 feet short.

He made the putt for par, just like he seemed to do throughout last year while winning nine times, including three straight majors.

Woods drove the 398-yard sixth hole and two-putted from 65 feet to get to 2-under par and appeared to be poised to quickly make his way up the leaderboard.

From the fairway on No. 9, straight into the wind, he pulled his driver into bushes so thick that Woods hit a provisional in case he couldn't find it.

He found his ball, along with a dozen others in the same area. From there, he hacked out into a bunker, came up short of the green from the sand and walked away with a bogey on a hole where he figured to make birdie.

"The tougher the better,'' Woods said of the conditions on the Plantation Course at Kapalua. "It weeds out the guys who aren't hitting it good.''

Like Els, Woods missed several medium-length birdie putts in the closing holes but finished with a downhill, 70-foot chip that stopped 3 feet behind the hole for a birdie.

Four players were at 4-under 69 - Billy Andrade and Stewart Cink, and first-time winners Rory Sabbatini of South Africa and Michael Clark.

Mike Weir of Canada, who won the American Express Championship in Spain and only started hitting balls this week for the first time in a month, was the first player off and finished at 3-under 70, along with Hal Sutton and David Toms.

Phil Mickelson had a 72, while David Duval had a 73.

Leonard has never been among the longest hitters on tour, just a good thinker. He made some changes in his swing during December, playing the ball farther up in his stance to eliminate some timing issues.

That was done to contend more often, no matter what Woods is up to.

"I don't think I've ever let another player really affect what I did to prepare,'' Leonard said. "Now, maybe if it gets to a point, I should. As of right now, I'm going to be stubborn and say, 'I need to figure out what it takes for me to play well.'

"It's a constant search. I'll continue to search.''

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