Couples, Henry share lead at Bay Hill

Fred Couples made 4 birdies in his opening six holes, shot 5-under 65, and golf finally felt fun. Tiger Woods couldn't hit the green with a wedge, struggled to shoot even par, and he finally looked human.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational delivered a few surprises Thursday in Orlando, Fla., none bigger than the 48-year-old Couples booming tee shots, taking only 23 putts and finishing atop the leaderboard with J.J. Henry.

In three previous trips to Bay Hill, Henry had never done better than 71. He played under warm sunshine without a bogey, making 4 birdie putts outside 15 feet.

Couples and Henry were a stroke ahead of defending champion Vijay Singh, Lee Westwood, Tom Lehman and Lucas Glover, who got a pep talk from friends to quit being so hard on himself. Despite consecutive bogeys, Glover kept his cool and ended a streak of eight consecutive rounds without breaking 70.

For Couples, it was his best score at Bay Hill since a 63 in 1992, the year he won this tournament and was No. 1 in the world.

Woods is the world's No. 1 player now, having won every tournament he has played since September. It sure didn't look that way after a birdie on the opening hole. He missed one green with a pitching wedge, another green with a sand wedge, and settled for a 70 that left him 5 shots behind but not in awful shape.

Phil Mickelson opened with a 72.

Ballantine's Championship: Finland's Mikko Ilonen and Australia's Tony Carolan shot 5-under 67s to share the first-round lead in the inaugural Ballantine's Championship at Jeju Island, South Korea, the European Tour's first event in South Korea.

American Anthony Kim was a stroke behind at 68 in a group that included Ireland's Paul McGinley, India's Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Bandhawa and Japan's Shingo Katayama. American Chris DiMarco was 3 strokes behind after a 70.

South Korean star K.J. Choi, a seven-time winner on the PGA Tour, and British Open champion Padraig Harrington opened with 71s on the Pinx Golf Club course.