Pettersson leads with opening 63

Carl Pettersson simply went out Thursday and showed everyone how to play the Sunrise Course during the opening round of The Honda Classic.

The 26-year-old Swede, who moved to England when he was 10 and to North Carolina as a teenager, matched his best score on the PGA Tour with a bogey-free round en route to a 9-under 63. He leads Mark Hensby by two strokes.

Hensby, who faced slightly stronger breezes late in the afternoon, birdied four straight holes late in his round for a 65. Steve Flesch, Jesper Parnevik and Rory Sabbatini were another stroke back.

The course played less difficult than it did during the pro-am round Wednesday, when a strong wind came out of the opposite direction, and had some players bracing for the worst.

"I didn't see that kind of score, put it that way," said John Riegger, who was tied for sixth after a 67. "The Tour officials did an outstanding job of setting up the golf course."

Most hole locations on Tour courses are four paces from the edge. There were only three such placements in the first round, which helps because the elevated greens drop off severely on all sides.

That was no accident.

"We're trying to err on the conservative side," rules official Tony Wallin said. "The course is young. It only opened in November. It's hard, dry and fast. And if you err on the non-conservative side, that's when you really get in trouble, because then things can just go crazy."

Pettersson went crazy in a good way.

After saving par with a 20-foot putt on No. 10, he holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the par-3 11th and closed out his round with a 7-iron into 6 inches on the 18th.

"I obviously made a lot of putts to shoot 9 under," he said. "I've played better rounds tee-to-green, but I made the putts, which is a huge difference."

Fred Couples shot 30 on his back nine and was in a large group at 68 that included Brad Faxon and Robert Allenby.

Davis Love III was cruising along at 5 under until he missed the green four straight times, and only got up-and-down from the collection area three times. He wound up with a 69.

"It's a little fun, but a little bit frustrating," Love said.

He wasn't the least bit surprised that Pettersson shot such a low score, and had so much company.

"They talk for two to three days about how hard it is, and someone goes and shoots 7 or 8 under," Love said. "It happens all the time."

Flesch wasn't sure which direction the breeze was blowing, only that it was favorable. Players had help on the long par 4s and most of the par 5s, allowing them to reach in two.

"Let's hope it stays that way until Monday," he said.

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