Northern Trust Open: day one report

Veterans Retief Goosen and Vijay Singh are among six leaders after the first day’s play at the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club in California.

Veterans Retief Goosen and Vijay Singh are among six leaders after the first day’s play at the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club in California.

Playing together, Goosen and Singh fired opening rounds of five-under-par 66 to match the scores posted by James Hahn, Nick Watney, Daniel Summerhays and Derek Fathauer.

For Singh, it was his best start to a PGA Tour event since the 2012 McGladrey Classic. Although the Fijian could have gone lower had a couple of short birdie putts dropped on the run for home, he was delighted with his round.

"I'm finally not hurting as much as I did the last five years," Singh said. "That's a big part of playing good golf. You're not hurting, you can go out and play and you're comfortable. Right now, nothing hurts. The golf swing feels good, and I'm happy to be playing."

Goosen had seven birdies on his card, but a pair of bogeys meant he finished on five-under.

“Nice to see the old guys play well,” he said of himself and Singh. Goosen has just turned 47 and Singh is 51.

Nick Watney continued his good run of form and has clearly bounced back well from the disappointment of losing out to Brandt Snedeker last week at Pebble Beach.

"I was disappointed for maybe 12 hours," Watney said. "But overall, it was almost all positive and onto the next week."

Daniel Summerhays and James Hahn joined the leading pack with late charges. Both birdied their closing three holes to post 66s.

Derek Fathauer was the only one of the leaders who teed off in more difficult conditions in the afternoon.

Paul Casey is the leading British player on one-under-par. He’s tied for 17th in a group that includes Ireland’s Padraig Harrington.

Northern Trust Open Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California Feb 19-22, purse: $6,700,000, par: 71

T1    Retief Goosen (RSA)        66 T1    Vijay Singh (Fij)            66 T1    Nick Watney (USA)        66 T1    James Hahn (USA)        66 T1    Daniel Summerhays (USA)    66 T1    Derek Fathauer (USA)        66 7    Carlos Ortiz (Mex)        67     T8    Justin Thomas (USA)        68 T8    Aex Cejka (Ger)            68 T8    Geoff Ogilvy (Aus)        68 T8    William McGirt (USA)        68

Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage