Woods & Daly in leading group

A gallery that stood three-deep around the 18th tee suddenly let out an enormous cheer, not unusual with Tiger Woods in front of them and in the lead Thursday in the Bay Hill Invitational.

Only the cheers weren't always for Woods.

They had their back turns, watching as John Daly's tee shot on the par-3 17th took dead aim at the flag and burned the left edge of the cup, stopping 9 feet behind the hole.

Fans didn't have to wander around Bay Hill to find the action -- Woods working magic with his short game, Daly right behind, booming big drives and avoiding big numbers.

Woods and Daly, two of the biggest attractions on the PGA Tour, wound up in a six-way share of the lead at 5-under 67.

``It was kind of neat to play behind him,'' Daly said. ``I knew he was playing good. It was kind of cool, because the gallery watched both of us all day.''

Angel Cabrera, John Huston, Steve Flesch and 48-year-old D.A. Weibring, who got into the tournament on a sponsor's exemption, also shot 67s on a sunny, calm day at Arnold Palmer's course.

Sergio Garcia was among those at 68, while Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Ryder Cup captain Curtis Strange were at 69. Ernie Els, trying to win for the third straight week, bogeyed the 18th and was at 70.

Woods, the two-time defending champion at Bay Hill, is trying to become the first player to win three separate tournaments three times in a row. He already has hat tricks at Firestone and the Memorial.

He got off to a good start at Bay Hill, and was a first-round leader for the first time since he opened with a 65 in the Canadian Open in September. This was hardly a model of perfection, though, not with Woods hitting only nine greens in regulation.

``But my short game bailed me out, and I made a lot of putts today,'' he said after a round in which he required only 21 putts.

The number of putts was misleading because he had several birdie chances from just on the fringe. Still, he showed a deft touch out of the thick grass.

Woods also managed to drown out the distractions, which in this case were coming from behind him, and not around him. Sure, there was the car alarm that went off as he was standing over his 6-foot birdie putt on No. 4. Woods never backed off the putt and holed it to begin a string of three straight birdies.

Most of the time, Woods was listening to one roar after another, turning around to see Daly picking his ball out of the cup or watching his tee shot land far down the fairway.

``He's playing really well, and people love to see John play well,'' Woods said.

Daly joined the leaders with typical thrills.

His wedge on No. 13 found the water, but he got up-and-down for a bogey. Three holes later, he banged out a 308-yard drive on the par-5 16th that was a little more on the right side than he would have preferred.

A tall pine was nearly in the way, but the pin was to the back left and ``luckily, I didn't have a very long iron in there.''

From 207 yards, it was only a 6-iron that came in high and soft, stopping 19 feet behind the cup. Daly holed that for eagle and was tied for the lead.

``I've always loved coming here for Arnie and never really played good,'' Daly said.

Four years ago, Daly was playing the par-5 sixth hole when he hit 3-wood into the water six times before finally holing out for an 18.

``They should have put a plaque out there for me,'' Daly said.

Two years ago, he closed with an 87. Daly has never finished higher than 21st in nine previous tries at Bay Hill.

Cabrera, a surprise contender at Augusta last year, had it to 7-under par until bogeys on the final two holes. Huston, who has won five of his six PGA Tour events in Florida, switched to a crosshanded putting grip and played a bogey-free round, taking only 25 putts.

Palmer, the 72-year-old host, hit only three greens, made triple bogey on the final hole and had an 86, beating by one his worse score ever at the BayHill Invitational.

Divots

Craig Parry has a lot riding on his performance in the Bay Hill Invitational. He is leading the money list on the Australasian tour, which gets him into the U.S. Open provided he is among the top 75 in the world ranking after this week. Parry currently is No. 74. Scott Laycock is second on the Australasian money list and also would get an exemption. Laycock, 70th in the ranking, is playing in New Zealand this week. ... John Daly took his 2-year-old stepson to Disney World on Wednesday so the toddler could see Mickey Mouse. ``Nine of us go, we pay $381 and where in the hell is Mickey?'' he said. ``We went to his house. We went to Toon Town. We went everywhere.'' ... U.S. Amateur champion Bubba Dickerson had a 72. Seventeen-year-old professional Ty Tryon hada 75.

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