Brent Geiberger, riding the momentum of his first PGA Tour victory, shot a 7-under-par 65 today to take the first-round lead in the Buick Open.

Tom Kite came back from the land of golf's near-dead to post one of his best rounds in a dismal year, a 66 that left him a stroke off the lead.

Geiberger, whose father, Al, was the first tour player to shoot 59 in a tournament round, said he's just trying to keep a level head. Given his first victory -- and a recent spate of dizzy spells -- that's proving difficult to do.

"I feel pretty calm and confident out there," Geiberger said, despite occasional dizziness stemming from a nerve problem in his left ear. "I can be standing there and feel like I'm moving. It's pretty tough to putt."

It wasn't so tough that Geiberger couldn't run in seven birdie putts, the longest from 15 feet.

Soft greens and a course layout that includes four par-5s and two par-4s under 350 yards led to plenty of sub-70 scores. Ted Tryba racked up six birdies, an eagle, a par and a bogey on the back nine for a 29, tying the tournament record for lowest 9-hole score at the 7,105-yard Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club outside of Flint, Mich.

Tryba attributed his scoring to the rub-off effect from playing partners who were also scoring. In Tryba's trio, Phil Blackmar shot 67 and Chris Perry shot 69.

"We were all playing real nice," Tryba said. "We were all seeing putts go into the hole."

Perhaps it was a day for the walking wounded to play well. Tryba is recovering from having separated two ribs from his sternum when he tried to lift something heavy while working on his dock at his home in Orlando, Fla. His advice: "Pay someone else to do it."

Kite has been suffering injuries to the ego in the past few years. His last victory came in 1993 when he won the Los Angeles Open. In 1998 he was unable to gain a top-10 finish for the first time in his 26-year career. This year the slide continued as Kite missed eight cuts in his first nine tournaments, with only one round in the 60s. The dismal play continued until Kite had finally had enough and took three weeks off in midseason. He made his return last week at Hartford and was 17th, his best finish of the year.

"I've played so poorly the last year and a half. It's been such a struggle," Kite said. "I'm just trying to piece together some sort of golf game that would allow me to compete."

The slump has been the only one of serious magnitude of Kite's career. He said factors include the death of teacher and mentor Harvey Penick in 1995 and the time and energy he put into his captaincy of the 1997 Ryder Cup team, as well as the letdown that followed after the team's defeat by the Europeans.

On Thursday there were flashes of the Kite of old as he methodically hit one fairway and green after another and took advantage of the chances his accurate iron play gave him. His seven birdies and one bogey were highlighted by four iron shots inside six feet, including a sand wedge from the fairway -- a shot that made Kite one of the most dangerous players on tour for years -- to within a yard of the cup on the par-5 opening hole.

Two dozen players were bunched within three shots of Geiberger, the sole leader. They included Tom Lehman and Bob Tway at 5-under and Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Fred Funk in a large group at 4-under.

Eric Booker, former teaching pro at Warwick Hills, used his course knowledge in shooting a 68. Last year the virtual unknown on the tour finished tied for fourth in the Buick.

Sergio Garcia, the 19-year-old Spaniard, shot a disappointing 73.

AP