Carter takes opening advantage

Jim Carter and Esteban Toledo want to be like Craig Perks. They're off to a good start.

Carter, with one PGA Tour victory since turning pro in 1985, shot a 7-under-par 65 on Thursday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Shell Houston Open.

``I gave myself a lot of opportunities,'' Carter said. ``You come off there feeling so good and it keeps your momentum going for the rest of the day. My swing feels good and I've worked very hard.''

Toledo, drawing inspiration from Perks as he looks for his first tour victory, charged home in the afternoon with a 66 on the TPC at The Woodlands.

``I want to play my best golf just like Craig Perks did last week,'' the Mexican player said. ``If I win that's great. I've reached my dream of playing on the PGA Tour. Now, my goal is to win a tournament.''

Perks was virtually unknown until he won The Players Championship with a stunning finish Sunday. The 35-year-old New Zealander was ordinary Thursday, shooting a 74.

Toledo said a practice round with Greg Norman helped his performance.

``I watched the way he set up,'' Toledo said. ``It helped me with my routine. I like the way he does his. That's why he's won so many tournaments. I'd just like to win one.''

Vijay Singh was two strokes back at 67 along with Chris Riley, J.P. Hayes, Scott Verplank, Brian Bateman and Jay Haas.

John Daly was 5 under through 16 holes, but bogeyed No. 17 and closed with a double-bogey 6 for a 70. Norman, playing in the tournament for the first time since 1991, also had a 70.

Carter had seven birdies -- five on the back nine -- in his bogey-free round.

``I've had good first rounds before and this was nice,'' Carter said. ``It was just a good, solid round. I didn't seem to do anything stupid. I didn't seem to do anything real spectacular. It's always nice to get a good solid round under your belt.''

It was Carter's low round of the year. He tied for 49th last week in The Players Championship.

``I've been playing really great golf, and I'm waiting to bust out,'' Carter said. ``I've made a few mistakes. I've just kind of inserted those into my round. I didn't do that today and hopefully I'm done doing that for the year.''

Toledo started his round playing steady and got really excited after he ran in a 40-foot birdie putt on No. 9.

``That's what kind of got me going,'' Toledo said.

Singh was 5 under at the turn but couldn't better that on his final nine holes.

``I thought I was going to keep going but I don't know what happened,'' Singh said. ``I hit pretty good even on my front nine, my back nine for the first five holes and then kind of scraped around the last three.''

There were seven other golfers bunched three shots off the pace at 68, including former champion Robert Allenby and Houston favorite Fred Couples and Nick Price. Defending champion Hal Sutton shot a 72.

The tournament will end a 24-year association with The Woodlands, the last 17 at the TPC. It will begin play in 2003 at Redstone Golf Club.

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