• Brandt Jobe is a first-round co-leader after posting a 7-under 65 on the Torrey Pines North Course on Thursday. It is just the second time he has held a first-round lead in his nine years on the PGA TOUR (1999 Air Canada Championship/tied for 48th). His last lead on TOUR was a third-round lead at the 2005 INTERNATIONAL where he finished second.

• The other co-leader is France's Thomas Levet, who finished No. 150 on the PGA TOUR money list in 2006 to grab the last conditional spot available through the 2005 money list. Levet’s 7-under 65 is his low for the season and lowest on TOUR since a 64 during the opening-round of the 2004 MCI Heritage, where he finished tied for sixth. For Levet, it is just the second lead he has held on the PGA TOUR in his fourth full season on TOUR (69th event). He shared the first-round lead at the 2004 British Open with Paul Casey at 5-under 66 before finishing tied for fifth.

• The 7-under 65 by Brandt Jobe was one off his low round of the year, a 64 during the fourth round of last week’s Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. It his also his best round in eight appearances at the tournament and just his sixth round in the 60s over 21 rounds at Torrey Pines.

• Jobe and Levet are ahead of a group of nine players tied for second, one stroke back -- Ryuji Imada (N.C.), Craig Barlow (N.C.), Kent Jones (N.C.), Stuary Appleby (N.C.), Charley Hoffman (N.C.), Nick Watney (N.C.), Jerry Kelly (N.C.), Brett Quigley and Skip Kendall. Another 12 players sit two strokes back.

• Of those 23 players within two strokes of the leader, all but one played on the North Course, where the scoring average was 4.166 lower than the scoring average on the South Course. In fact, 29 of the top 32 scores came on the North Course.

• Scoring Averages for Thursday’s play:

North Course 69.756 (-2.244)
South Course 73.910 (+2.910)

• The South Course scoring average of 73.910 was the third-highest for a round since the course was lengthened in 2002. The highest, 74.205, came during the first round of the 2003 event, while the second-highest, 73.948, came during the second round of the 2004 event.

• Jesper Parnevik led the 78 players on the South Course with a 5-under 67. Tim Clark and D.A. Points were next with a 4-under 68.

• Defending champion Tiger Woods birdied his last hole of the day, the ninth on the North course, to finish at 1-under 71 in his first round of the PGA TOUR season. It was his highest opening-round of the season since a 2-under 71 during the 2004 Mercedes Championships (Tied for fourth). In fact, in the 10 seasons since 1997 that he has began his season in January, Woods has opened with a round in the 70s seven times and has a season-opening round scoring average of 70.0. His low opening round, a 68 at the 2002 Mercedes Championship (Tied for 10th).

• Tiger Woods has won in his first start of the season a total of three times before -- 1997, 1999 Mercedes Championships and the 2003 Buick Invitational. In fact, in 2003 when Woods began his year at Torrey Pines, he went on to win in three of his first four starts -- Buick Invitational, World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship and the Bay Hill Invitational. His only non-win was a tied for fifth at the Nissan Open in his second start.

• Tiger Woods has opened with a 1-under 71 three times in his eight previous starts at Torrey Pines but none of his three wins have come that year. He finished tied for third in 1998, tied for second in 2000 and tied for 10th in 2004 after opening with a 71. In eight appearances at the Buick Invitational, Woods has eight top-10s, including seven top-fives.

• All 24 rookies are in the field this week. Charley Hoffman led the group with a 6-under 66, followed by Nicholas Thompson and Nathan Green with 65s.

• Rookie and San Diego-born Charley Hoffman fired a 6-under 66, his best round at Torrey Pines in nine appearances and just his fourth round in the 60s here. His best finish was a tied for 56th in 2005. Although a rookie, Hoffman had made the cut in three of 11 TOUR events prior to this season, twice at Torrey Pines. He missed the cut in his first start as a TOUR member at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

• Skip Kendall (66), one of the nine players tied for third, lead the field in birdies during round one with nine.

• Eleven of the 12 bogey-free rounds came on the North Course with Carlos Franco posting the lone bogey-free round on the South Course. North Course -- Craig Barlow, Kent Jones, Charley Hoffman, Nick Watney, Chris Couch, Shane Bertsch, Nathan Green, Brandt Jobe, Thomas Levet, Steve Lowery and K.J. Choi.

• Defending champion Tiger Woods is looking to become the first four-time winner of the Buick Invitational. He won his third title last year (1999, 2003, 2005) and became only the second player with three titles, joining Phil Mickelson (1993, 2000, 2001). He also leads the all-time earnings at the Buick Invitational with $2,939,000.

• Coming into the event, Tiger Woods had recorded 23 of his 31 rounds at Torrey Pines in the 60s and carried a scoring average of 68.32 at this tournament. His Sunday scoring average on the South Course is even better than that at 67.29. In fact, his round-by-round scoring average gets better as the tournament progresses with averages of 68.50, 68.25, 68.13 and the 67.29.