Byrd, who has missed the cut in his last two starts after tying for third on his title defense at the season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, was especially pleased with his birdie at the par-four seventh. New 2012 TaylorMade RocketBallZ RBZ Drivers

"That's a hole I've kind of struggled with [in the past] ... and I hit a great eight-iron in there," he said. "It wasn't that hard a shot but I hit it right over the hole, it hit a slope, came down and it lipped out about a foot from the hole."

Choi, an eight-times champion on the PGA Tour, was also relieved to shoot a sub-par round in the tricky conditions.

"I wake in the morning at 4:30, and outside the window there were palm trees like this," he said, waving his hand vigorously from side to side. "Very, very difficult on the golf course.

"I like playingNew 2012 TaylorMade RocketBallZ RBZ Drivers
in the wind," Choi said through an interpreter after mixing three birdies with a lone bogey. "In Dallas where I live, you get a lot of wind there.

"But what makes Riviera Country Club so difficult is the targets are very small."

American world number 11 Phil Mickelson, champion here in 2008 and 2009 and fresh from victory at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Sunday, was among the late starters.