Fred Couples shoots 66 on his favourite course

Defying a pounding head and high fever, twice champion Fred Couples moved into early contention with a five-under-par 66 at the Nissan Open on Thursday.

Couples, who became sick at last week's Johnnie Walker Classic in Australia, mixed six birdies with a bogey at the Riviera Country Club to end the first round two strokes behind co-leaders Justin Rose of Britain and American Dean Wilson.

"I love this course and I figured no matter how bad I felt, I could get around and have a decent score," the 46-year-old American told reporters.

"This is the course that I play the best on the PGA Tour, and that had a lot to do with it.

"I'm all clogged up and pretty dicey now but the funny thing is that I actually felt pretty good until I stopped."

Couples, winner at Riviera in 1990 and 1992, said he could hardly function on Wednesday when he was forced to withdraw from the pro-am tournament.

"The flight home almost killed me, it was just flying with the flu," he added. "I stayed in bed all day on Monday and Tuesday, got up on Wednesday and just couldn't function.

"I saw a doctor and got some stuff. Today, I really didn't hit many balls on the range. I just kind of messed around. It was freezing and my head was pounding, it's very blurry."

Starting on the 10th tee, the 1992 U.S. Masters champion sliced his drive right into a bunker and overshot the green with his approach. Although his chip back ended up just four feet from the pin, he missed the par putt.

"I was just shaking and missed it," he said. "Every long putt today, I tried to lag as close as I could.

"I didn't want to have any four-footers, three-footers or even two-footers. Standing over short putts, everything was a blur."

A winner of 15 titles on the PGA Tour, Couples last tasted victory at the 2003 Houston Open.