Smith sets first day pace with 65

Chris Smith made light of the windy conditions on Thursday to shoot a seven-under-par 65, taking a one-shot lead over Joe Durant after the first round of the Doral Championship.

Durant's 66 was one shot better than the 67s achieved by Phil Mickelson, South African Retief Goosen and Scott Verplank, while champion Scott Hoch was tied for 19th at two-under-par 70.

Coming off one of his worst seasons as a professional, the 34-year-old Smith began with an eagle and followed with eight birdies over 15 holes to move to 10-under.

"I felt good out on the course and I felt like I was in control of what I was doing. I finally made some putts, so it's a good day," said Smith.

Although Smith could not keep up the pace in the final three holes, with a bogey on the 16th and a double bogey on the 18th, he was relieved to have finally buried his memories of 2003.

Last season he had only one top-10 result at the Greater Milwaukee Open and finished 131st on the PGA Tour money list.

"I just felt kind of lost with my golf game all year last year and the harder I tried, it seemed like the worse it got," Smith said.

"If I were smart, I think I probably would have come home from the British Open last year and just put the clubs away and come out the start of this year because I really didn't want to be playing at all at the end of last year."

Smith blamed his dip in form after his teacher of almost five years, Jim McGurk, dropped him in the week of the Players Championship.

Now under the guidance of Todd Andersen, Smith made numerous changes to his swing which has started to provide results.

"I really didn't know what to expect, making as many changes as I did at the start of the year, but I did hit the ball pretty good on the West Coast and I felt like I got better each week," Smith said.

Durant, who also struggled over the past two years to finish 137th on the earnings list in 2002 and 66th in 2003, played some of his best golf on Thursday.

"I rolled the ball the best I've rolled it in two years today. I was very happy with my putting. My hitting wasn't particularly great but I kept it in play," said Durant.

"I hit the ball solid enough to put it on the green and made some good putts."

Tied for sixth on 68 were Briny Baird, South Africa's Tim Clark, Zach Johnson, Mark Calcavecchia, Craig Perks, Todd Hamilton, Dennis Paulson, Chris DiMarco and John Riegger.

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