The Live Report, Rd. 1: Mercedes-Benz Champ.

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His Sooners lost, but Anthony Kim (right) shot a 2 under to Florida grad Camilo Villegas' 2 over in Thursday's first round.

The Mercedes-Benz Championship is the first event of the 2009 PGA TOUR season. PGATOUR.COM is on the scene at Kapalua. We'll provide updates all day long, so check back often. (All timestamps listed for Eastern Time.)

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (11:05 p.m.): The first round just wrapped up at Kapalua and there was plenty of good and not-so-good, especially with the trade winds blowing most of the day.

Geoff Ogilvy didn't seem to mind. He shot a 6-under 67 to grab a one-stroke lead over Johnson Wagner, Ernie Els and Kenny Perry.

On a day when plenty of scorecards of players near the top featured birdies alongside bogeys, Ogilvy's card was as clean as could be with a six-birdie, no-bogey effort. There wasn't anything spectacular that he did, other than pretty much keep the ball in the fairway, find the green in regulation and make birdie when he could.

"I was playing well before Christmas, so it's not amazingly surprising I'm playing well now," Ogilvy said. "I haven't shot very many good rounds around this course, so maybe that's a surprise. But the fact that I'm playing OK is not surprising."

Meanwhile, Wagner, Els and Perry all relied on eagles -- Els and Perry on No. 5, Wagner on No. 18 -- to boost their scores.

Vijay Singh

The bad? Vijay Singh finished at even par and actually could've been a lot worse off, but he grinded it out.

Still, Singh, who says he will miss five weeks because of impending knee surgery, was admittedly a little too amped up for the start of the season and he doubled the first hole, bogeyed the fourth and bogeyed the 16th. A handful of birdies, including one on 18, kept him within reach. Not surprisingly, he hit the range afterward.

Camilo Villegas had a similar round to Singh's, struggling at the start with a 2-over 38 on the front that included bogeys on two of his first three holes. Birdies late (on Nos. 16 and 18) saved him a little as well. Nonetheless, a 74 isn't what many expected from Villegas.

The ugly? Marc Turnesa and defending champion Daniel Chopra had the worst rounds of the day, clocking in ith 6-over 79s. Turnesa had six bogeys and one double on No. 9, while Chopra had three doubles (Nos. 9, 10 and 12) to go with four more bogeys.

What to look for tomorrow? A lot will depend on the wind, but don't expect too many of the leaders to back up. There's a lot of Kapalua experience up there and a healthy and confident Davis Love III, just two strokes back, is in the mix, too. Don't forget about Anthony Kim, either. He shot a 2-under 71 that would have been better if not for a miserable lie in a greenside bunker that led to a bogey on No. 12. -- Brian Wacker

ANOTHER EAGLE ON 18 (10:15 p.m. ET) : The downhill, 663-yard 18th hole at Kapalua surrenders 400-yard drives as often as Wall Street surrenders gains these days, but you know it's playing really short, or at least a lot shorter, when Trevor Immelman can get home in two.

The Masters champ, who ranked 66th in driving distance on the PGA TOUR last year, just hit a 371-yard drive, then followed it up with a 291-yard "approach" that landed 8 feet, 7 inches from the hole.

Immelman made the putt and with it recorded the second eagle of the day at Kapalua's finishing hole (more on the first one below). As for the rest of his round, it wasn't nearly as spectacular: two bogeys, one birdie and a score of 1-under 72. -- Brian Wacker

WAGNER CHARGES UP LEADERBOARD (9:49 p.m. ET): So much for being a sleeper pick. If Johnson Wagner keeps it up, he'll be on plenty of people's radar.

Wagner

Wagner, who made it to Maui via his victory at the 2008 Shell Houston Open, just shot an opening-round 5-under 68 that included an eagle on the 663-yard, par-5 18th hole. Yes, an eagle (the only one on the hole so far).

Wagner, who went to Florida and worked with his coach for about eight days to prepare for the Mercedes-Benz Championship, actually arrived on Friday. "My goal was to come prepared for this tournament," he said.

He was prepared, alright. Wagner rolled off three straight birdies at one point on the front nine, then closed out the back with two birdies and that eagle. After hitting his drive 380 yards, Wagner reached the 18th green in two, hitting a 275-yard "approach" shot that landed a mere 17 feet from the hole before sinking the putt. (To put it in perspective, Davis Love III hit a 408-yard drive here but only managed birdie.)

"It was great. I had been hitting good shots all day, not making a lot of putts, and made a nice 10-footer downhill on 16, and made a 30-footer on 17," he said. "Then hit one a little too far left than I thought on 18, but it ended up perfectly in a flat spot, 3-iron in and hit a good shot and made the putt.

"It was a great finish and turned a 71 into 68 real quick, which is nice." -- Brian Wacker and Helen Ross

FIRST TO WORST (9:30 p.m.): Daniel Chopra's title defense is not getting off to a very good start.

The Swede bogeyed his first hole but managed to get that back when he rolled in an 11-footer for birdie at the sixth hole. Things went downhill fast, though, as he came to the turn -- Chopra bogeyed No. 1 and then made doubles at the ninth, 10th and 12th holes.

He's 6-over through 13 holes and tied for last with Marc Turnesa, who finished with a 79. -- Helen Ross

CAMILO VS. KIM, UF VS. OU (9:20 p.m. ET): Anthony Kim might be outplaying Camilo Villegas so far today -- Kim is even through 12 holes, while Villegas is 2-over -- but Villegas' Florida Gators just took an early 7-0 lead over Kim's Oklahoma Sooners in the BCS National Championship game.

The lead was short-lived, however, as Oklahoma responded to tie the game 7-7.

You can read more about what the two had to say about the game in this week's Tour Insider by clicking here. -- Brian Wacker

LOVE IN (8:34 p.m. ET): It's clear that Davis Love III is in much better shape right now than he was most of last year, when an ankle injury hampered him much of the season. If the fact that he recently went snowboarding in Sun Valley, Idaho, wasn't evidence enough, then his opening round at Kapalua was.

Love is the early clubhouse leader after a 4-under 69.

After getting off to a hot start with birdies on four of his first seven holes, Love gave two strokes back with bogeys on Nos. 11 and 13 before birdies on the 14th and 18th holes moved him back up the leaderboard.

On the day, Love had six birdies, 10 pars and two bogeys with 28 putts. -- Brian Wacker

RYUJI ON THE REBOUND (8:13 p.m. ET): Ryuji Imada wasn't headed in the right direction after bogeys on the third and fourth holes. But seven straight birdies later -- one off the PGA TOUR record held by six players -- Imada is tied for the lead.

The former University of Georgia standout, who won the final AT&T Classic last spring, started his string at the sixth hole when he rolled in a 7-footer for birdie. His next came from a mere 9 inches and birdie putts from 14, 8, 3, 3 and 20 feet followed. -- Helen Ross

WHO'S UP, WHO'S DOWN (7:38 p.m. ET): An investment banker friend of mine said Ernie Els would win this week. I took it with a grain of salt since I knew he was a big fan of the Big Easy, but so far Els has looked extremely good.

That shouldn't come as any surprise given Els' track record at Kapalua. He was T3 here in 2005, the last time he played in the Mercedes-Benz Championship, and won it in '03. He also finished T3 in '01 and the year before that had that memorable playoff loss to Tiger Woods.

Through eight holes today, Els is 4-under with two birdies and an eagle on the 532-yard, par-5 fifth, which he reached in two.

Els has company, however, with Geoff Ogilvy moving to 4-under with a four-birdie, no-bogey effort through the first 10 holes. Davis Love III, meanwhile, lost a couple of strokes with bogeys on Nos. 11 and 13, but rebounded with a birdies on 14.

Marc Turnesa, on the other hand, just checked in with a 79 that included a double-bogey 7 on No. 9 after he hit his tee shot into the junk.

As of now, 12 players are actually over par for the day. The biggest surprises among them? Vijay Singh and Camilo Villegas, both of whom are at 2-over in the early part of their rounds. -- Brian Wacker

NEW EQUIPMENT IN USE THIS WEEK (7:15 p.m. ET): PGA TOUR Network's John Maginnes will provide analysis and insight for The Live Report this season. Here is his first entry:

The equipment companies have a new line of toys that will be available to the public in the near future, but are in use by the best players in the world this week.

Titleist has 20 players in the field and half of them are playing the newest generation of golf ball. The 2009 version of the Pro V1 is in the air for Richard S. Johnson, Ryan Palmer, Chez Reavie, Adam Scott and Camilo Villegas. The new 2009 Pro V1X is also in the bags of J.B. Holmes, Greg Kraft, Davis Love III, Kenny Perry Andres Romero.

Additionally, former Masters Champion Zach Johnson has the new Titleist AP2 irons in the bag. D.J. Trahan will defend in two weeks at the The 50th Bob Hope Classic hosted by Arnold Palmer with a new set of irons that he has put in use this week. The ZM irons are a forged muscle back.

Notice that neither of the two who changed irons also changed golf balls. One step at a time at the beginning of the year. -- John Maginnes

CAMILO, A.K. ON THE COURSE (6:40 p.m. ET): Without question, the star pairing of the first two rounds is Anthony Kim and Camilo Villegas. They just teed off together and have what looks like the largest gallery of any group on the course.

The two played together five times last year. Here's a look at how they fared:

Perhaps more interesting, especially considering the level of expectaton this year, is how the two have played when a certain player who isn't in the field this week -- current king of swing Tiger Woods -- actually is playing. The answer: Not as well. At least not as well as Tiger, anyway.

Only twice -- both by Villegas -- have either of them finished ahead of Woods when all three are in the field. Villegas finished T3 at the 2006 PLAYERS Championship and T59 at the '06 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, where Tiger missed the cut.

Speaking of expectations, here's a more in-depth look at what to look for from both of them in 2009. -- Brian Wacker

PETTERSSON SLIMMED DOWN (5:55 p.m. ET): On Monday, PGATOUR.COM's John Maginnes wrote about how he used to like going to the first event of the season to see which players had gained or lost weight during the offseason. Put Carl Pettersson on the lost side of the ledger.

Carl Pettersson

He started working out and eating more healthy just before the end of the 2008 season. Even after the temptations of Thanksgiving and Christmas, the Wyndham Championship winner checked in 20 pounds lighter when he came to Maui.

"Before I was eating bad and not exercising," he said. At first it was a bit of a shock. but i've been doing it a few months and it feels pretty good."

Pettersson cut out snacks and what he called "bad stuff" like chocolate. He says he eats pretty much what he wants -- just nothing in between meals -- and he does 30-40 minutes of cardio work each day.

"It had gotten to the point where I wasn't feeling good after I played," the N.C. State product acknowledged.

The weight loss hasn't affected his swing, Pettersson said. "I feel like I can turn better, so it's for the better, really. I had been talking about doing it for a while. Who knows if it will stay off, but I've gotten going with it."

As for his game, Pettersson is anxious to see how things go.

"I have been practicing and playing well. but you never know," he said. "This is the first tournament of the year and you never know how you're going to play. I'd like to play well and it feels like I'm swinging well. So we'll see." -- Helen Ross

LOTS OF LOVE (5:30 p.m. ET): Davis Love III started the 2009 season a lot like he ended 2008: on fire. Love birdied four of his first seven holes and is the early leader as of right now at 4-under.

How did he get there? Love rolled in a 35-footer for birdie on the par-3 second then stuffed his approach shot to from a fairway bunker on No. 4. On the 532-yard, par-5 fifth, Love reached the green in two and two-putted. And he just added another birdie at No. 7.

If you recall, Love closed out last year in a flurry, finishing T3 at Turning Stone, T6 at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open and T11 at the Ginn sur Mer Classic before posting back-to-back 64s on the weekend to win the Children's Miracle Network Classic.

So far, Love hasn't missed a beat this week, either. -- Brian Wacker

CHOPRA BACK AND BLONDE AGAIN (4:55 p.m. ET): Daniel Chopra came to Maui with black hair, but the defending champion willl tee off on Thursday at 1:20 p.m. local time as a blonde.

Daniel Chopra

Chopra told reporters Wednesday that he just didn't have time to dye his hair. He went to the salon at the Ritz-Carlton that afternoon, though, and went back to his more traditional look.

"I won't do it myself," Chopra said with a smile, "I'm not that good at it."

Chopra won the Mercedes-Benz Championship a year ago with a birdie on the fourth hole of a playoff with Steve Stricker. He closed with a 66 to come from two strokes back and win his second PGA TOUR event in three months (see where that ranked among the 10 best rounds of 2008).

"It was a validation of my first win," Chopra said. "It just made me feel very good about what I've achieved in the first place, and the second win, it definitely makes you feel like you belong in the winner's circle. And being as prestigious an event as this, and the first event of the year, it frees you up for the rest of the year and puts you in a good position." -- Helen Ross

ROUGH START FOR BECKMAN (4:45 p.m. ET): Bogeys on the first two holes dropped Cameron Beckman, the winner of the 2008 Frys.com Open, to 2-over through the first four holes.

On the first, a 366-yard par-4, Beckman left his 219-yard approach shot short. He pitched on and two-putted. On the 218-yard, par-3 second, his tee shot missed the green right before he pitched up and two-putted. -- Brian Wacker

CEREMONY DUTIES (4:25 p.m. ET): Despite the intermittent rain, several hundred fans ringed the first tee at the Plantation Course at Kapalua to watch the opening ceremonies.

Carl Pettersson, who won the Wyndham Championship, stood on the steps to the clubhouse as the festivities began, while Johnson Wagner was outside the entrance to the locker room conferring with his caddy.

Veteran broadcaster and Hawaii resident Mark Rolfing was the master of ceremonies. Among his observations was how much it meant to have Ernie Els and Davis Love III back in the field for the winners-only event. Els ended a victory drought of more than three years with his win at The Honda Classic last year while Love's victory at the Children's Miracle Network Classic was his first since 2006.

"What an effort," Rolfing said of Love's push to win the final event of last year. "He played six in a row just to see if he could win a spot here."

A traditional hula dance was performed before recording artist Josh Kelley sang the National Anthem. As he sang a capella, three Black Hawk helicopters hovered in the distance over the Pailolo Channel near the island of Molokai. Heads turned and applause built as the massive birds, which will be deployed to Iraq later this year, flew loudly over the first fairway.

NFL great John Elway then got the season under way as he hit a ceremonial opening drive that would be coveted by many pros. Someone shouted "Go Broncos" just before he hit and Elway flashed that toothy grin as his ball found the fairway. -- Helen Ross

NOT SO SUNNY START IN MAUI (4:05 p.m. ET): About an hour before the opening ceremonies, a quick shower produced a spectacular, arching rainbow that seemed to rise from the nearby Ritz-Carlton and end empty into the Pailolo Channel. But by the time Mark Turnesa hit the first drive of 2009 at 10:45 a.m. local time, the gentle rain had returned.

The showers should be short-lived, though, and the forecast calls for partly cloudy and breezy conditions Thursday afternoon with winds in the 15-20 mph range. Friday and Saturday will be hazy but dry before a cold front moves in and brings rain that could be heavy at times on Sunday. -- Helen Ross

ALOHA MEANS HELLO (3:46 p.m. ET): The season is officially under way. Marc Turnesa just hit the opening tee shot right down the middle of the first hole at Kapalua.

Here's a quick look at how difficult, er, easy the Plantation Course ranks in terms of driving accuracy, which should give you a pretty good indication of what to expect this week.

In case you were wondering, the Plantation course also ranked first, or easiest, in greens in regulation percentage in 2008, clocking in at 83.15 percent -- more than 6 percent higher than Palm GC, one of the courses where the Children's Miracle Network Classic is played. -- Brian Wacker

LET'S GET IT STARTED (3:35 p.m. ET): Welcome to the Live Report, where we'll keep you updated on what's going on during every round of every event of the 2009 PGA TOUR season, starting with the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship.

We're about 10 minutes away from the first tee shot being struck at Kapalua. Marc Turnesa, who punched his ticket to the winners-only event after capturing last year's Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, will do the honors.

Since there are an odd number of players in the field -- 33 to be exact -- Turnesa will go out solo this afternoon, while everyone else plays in twosomes. -- Brian Wacker

Groups We're Watching

Tee time Players   4 pm ET (11 am in Hawaii) Dustin Johnson, Davis Love III If the Plantation course loves bombers -- and it does -- you've gotta like these two. Each one ranked in the top 10 in driving distance in 2008. Track 'em 6:10 pm ET (1:10 pm in Hawaii) Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas Of the two key Oklahoma vs. Florida matchups on Thursday, this one between the TOUR's brightest young guns might be more entertaining. Track 'em 6:20 pm ET (1:20 pm in Hawaii) Vijay Singh, Daniel Chopra Chopra ate up this course on the weekend last year; Singh eats up this course practically every year. But how's that knee? Track 'em

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