Perry & Riley lead with 65's

The bills from his golf course stopped coming in. His kids are getting older and less dependent. Kenny Perry is starting to relax and enjoy life, and it certainly shows on the golf course.

A week after he missed out of the playoff by one stroke in the season-opening Mercedes Championships, Perry opened with a 5-under-par 65 on Thursday to share the lead with Chris Riley after one round of the Sony Open.

``Everything is going real good in my life,'' said the 41-year-old from Kentucky. ``I don't have any expectations. I've had a good career out here, and I'm going to just try to enjoy my last few years. I'm very comfortable.''

Good golf is nothing new.

Perry, who won the Buick Open in August for his first victory in six years, also missed out on a playoff at the season-ending Tour Championship by one shot. He was right there at the winners-only Mercedes, too.

Waialae Country Club is nothing like the hilly, picturesque Kapalua Plantation Course, although Perry did notice a similarity -- the wind.

It blew hard in the morning and only got worse in the afternoon, with gusts up to 30 mph.

Riley has lived in Las Vegas the past 10 years and loves the wind. He overcame some opening-day jitters on the first hole and managed to get around Waialae without a bogey, with birdies on two of his last three holes for a 65.

``Hopefully, it will blow like this all week,'' Riley said.

Jerry Kelly and Jesper Parnevik like the wind, too. They were at 66, along with John Cook, who posted his number in the afternoon.

Perry would prefer everything to be calm.

``I don't think anybody loves it when it blows,'' he said. ``I don't know what they're talking about. Maybe they think the scores will stay up if it blows, when par is a good score. I do like tournaments when par is a good score.''

Par wasn't bad Thursday, especially since only 42 of the 144 players managed to get lower in the first full-field tournament of the year.

Sergio Garcia wasn't among them. After winning at Kapalua with a 68-64 on the weekend, the 22-year-old Spaniard couldn't get a putt to fall. The longest putt he made all day was a 6-footer for birdie on the 18th for a 71.

``I hung in there,'' Garcia said, showing that along with wanting to topple Tiger Woods, he can even talk like him.

Davis Love III had a 75, while Boo Weekley made his debut on the PGA Tour with an eagle on the final hole for a 76.

Perry is a four-time winner on the PGA Tour. His kids are 17, 16 and 13 and no longer beg him to come home. Plus, the golf course he built recently was paid off.

``It's hard to play pressure golf when you've got a lot of bills to pay, the kids are wanting me to come home,'' he said. ``Now, they're doing their thing and I'm doing mine. Everything is going great.''

Cameron Beckman was among those at 67. The group another stroke back included Toms, Mark O'Meara, Scott Hoch and defending champion Brad Faxon.

Kelly, a guy who has had problems finishing off tournaments, had no problem finishing off his first round of the new season. He birdied his final three holes for a 66.

``You have to be pretty confident of your setup,'' Kelly said of the difficulties putting in the wind. ``It's got to be tough on the rookies. They haven't seen this course yet.''

Kelly shares one thing in common with the tour rookies -- none of them have won.

He's had his chances. Kelly had a two-stroke lead over Tiger Woods in The Players Championship until tying for fourth, and he was poised to claim his first PGA Tour victory at the Reno-Tahoe Open until a triple bogey late in the final round, allowing John Cook to beat him by one stroke.

Now in his seventh full season on tour, Kelly believes this might be his year.

``I don't think there's anybody out there trying to win harder than I am,'' he said. ``It just hasn't happened to me. It's all about being in the right position at the right time.''

Parnevik finished at even par last week on Maui, and still hasn't worked out all the kinks in his game -- especially the driving. He has switched to a driver that is 43 1/2 inches long, similar to what Woods and Garcia use.

Not that it helped Thursday. He snap-hooked his opening drive to make bogey and hit only seven of 14 fairways, but recovered by playing bogey-free the rest of the round.

``I usually enjoy the wind,'' Parnevik said. ``I like hitting the different kind of shots.''

Wind had nothing to do with his most bizarre shot of the round.

His drive landed against a tree on the 10th fairway, so he inverted his driver and played his next shot lefthanded out into the fairway. Parnevik pitched to 10 feet and saved par.

Divots

Garrett Willis, who finished last at the Mercedes with a four-day total of 304, carried that momentum into the Sony Open. He was 8 over through his first seven holes and finished with a 10-over 80. ... Gary Nicklaus returned to the Sony Open no longer a bachelor. The son of Jack Nicklaus got married over the holidays. He opened with a 69 ... Charles Howell III finished with two bogeys for a 2-over 72. ... Jeff Maggert went out in 2-under 33, then bogeyed the next six holes. He finished at 73.

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