Briny Baird leads with opening 62

American Briny Baird, battling to keep his PGA Tour card, fired a sizzling 10-under 62 to grab the first round lead at the Las Vegas championships on Thursday.

Currently 132 on the money list and needing to finish among the top-125 earners to keep his card, Baird played as if his career was on the line returning a flawless 62 that included eight birdies and an eagle on the par-five 16th at the TPC at Summerlin.

Summerlin, one of two courses being used for the opening two rounds of the $4 million event, plays at a par 72 while the TPC at the Canyons is a par 71.

Lurking just one shot back are compatriots Ryan Palmer and Charles Howell III, who also had error-free starts returning identical nine-under scorecards that featured seven birdies and an eagle.

Justin Leonard, Michael Allen, Kevin Stadler, Bart Bryant and Scott Gutschewski are all one shot further adrift at eight-under.

Rookie Stadler, 163rd on the order of merit, aced the par-three 14th on his way to an eight-under 64.

Playing the back nine first at Summerlin, Stadler got off to an stumbling start with bogeys on his opening two holes but rebounded in style with a hole-in-one at the 14th followed by birdie on 15 and an eagle at the 16th.

Stadler then roared into the turn with birdies at 18 and the first followed by another eagle on three and a birdie at his last to close out a spectacular round.

Allen, 121st on the money list, bogeyed the second at Summerlin before hitting back with nine birdies, including four in a row from the 13th, for his 64.

Leonard, the 1997 British Open champion, is 11th on the order of merit and under no pressure for a place on next year's tour. He opened with an eight-under 63 on the TPC at Canyons.

World number three and U.S. PGA champion Phil Mickelson registered a four-under 67 at the Canyons.

John Daly, beaten by Tiger Woods in a playoff at last weekend's WGC-American Express Championship, mixed six birdies with three bogeys for a three-under 68.

Summerlin:

62 Briny Baird

63 Charles Howell III

64 Kevin Stadler, Scott Gutschewski, Bart Bryant, Michael Allen

65 Hunter Haas

66 Brent Geiberger, Hunter Mahan, Jim Furyk, Joe Durant, Lee Janzen, J J Henry

67 Ted Purdy, Jerry Kelly, D.A. Points, Jeff Sluman, Ryan Moore, Joe Ogilvie, Jonathan Byrd, Frank Lickliter II, Nick Watney

68 Omar Uresti, Davis Love III, Scott Hend (Aus), Carl Pettersson (Swe), Bob Heintz, Chris Smith, Marco Dawson, Gavin Coles (Aus), Mark Brooks, Harrison Frazar

69 Shaun Micheel, Padraig Harrington (Irl), Fred Couples, Skip Kendall, Darron Stiles, Gary Hallberg, Tommy Armour III

70 Patrick Sheehan, Lee Westwood (Eng), Bo Van Pelt, Thomas Levet (Fra), Scott McCarron, Scott Verplank, John Huston, Ian Poulter (Eng), Chris Riley, Daniel Chopra (Swe), Alex Cejka (Ger), Todd Hamilton

71 Paul Gow (Aus), Chad Campbell, Neal Lancaster, Steve Flesch, Bob Tway, Roland Thatcher, Kent Jones, Craig Perks (Nzl), Greg Owen (Eng)

72 Brian Gay, Tag Ridings, Aaron Baddeley (Aus)

73 David Duval, Mark Wilson, Brett Wetterich

74 Tom Byrum, Jim Carter

75 Joey Snyder III, Matt Gogel

76 Steve Allan (Aus)

77 Doug Barron

The Canyons:

62 Ryan Palmer

63 Justin Leonard

64 Tjaart Van der Walt (Rsa), Ryuji Imada (Jpn)

65 Billy Andrade, Paul Goydos, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Tom Pernice Jnr., Will MacKenzie, Shigeki Maruyama (Jp), Jason Gore

66 Franklin Langham, Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn), Lucas Glover, John Senden (Aus)

67 Robert Gamez, Phil Mickelson, Wes Short jr., Olin Browne, Ben Crane, Jesper Parnevik (Swe), Kevin Sutherland, Duffy Waldorf, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), Stuart Appleby (Aus), Steve Lowery, Fred Funk, Rodney Pampling (Aus), Brendan Jones (Aus), John Rollins, Dennis Paulson, David Hearn (Can), Stephen Leaney (Aus)

68 Tim Petrovic, John Daly, Robert Allenby (Aus), Corey Pavin, D.J. Trahan, Billy Mayfair, Donnie Hammond, Phillip Price (Wal), Bill Glasson, J.P. Hayes, Robert Damron

69 Christopher Anderson, Mark Hensby (Aus), Tom Lehman, James Driscoll, Pat Perez, Dean Wilson, Paul Claxton, Andrew Magee, Craig Barlow, Charles Warren, Brett Quigley

70 Brandt Jobe, John Cook, Brian Bateman, Todd Fischer

71 Bob Estes, Glen Day, Paul Azinger

72 Scott Piercy, Len Mattiace, DJ Brigman, Cameron Beckman, Tom Gillis

73 Michael Long (Nzl), Dudley Hart

74 Rich Beem, Woody Austin, Jonathan Kaye

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