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Kyle Stanley and Spencer Levin, taking advantage of brilliant sunshine with hardly a breath of wind, shared the first-round lead at the Farmers Insurance Open. The two American front runners both shot blistering 10-inder 62s on the easier North Course at Torrey Pines, one of the world's most famous municipal Left Handed TaylorMade R11 Driver clubs, to finish one stroke clear of last year's FedEx Cup champion Bill Haas and two in front of a four-way tie between a resurgent Vijay Singh of Fiji, Rod Pampling of Australia and two unheralded Americans, Josh Teater and John Huh. In the meantime Phil Mickelson, a three-time winner of this event and the home favourite, had a disastrous first round on the tougher South Course where Saturday's final round will be played. He struggled to a two-birdie, seven-bogey, 5-over 77 that left him dumb-founded and perplexed. "I don't know what happened, I just wasn't able to focus," the Southern Californian left-hander said, shaking his head in bewilderment. "I made some bad swings just in the wrong spots and so forth. "But I felt like my Left Handed TaylorMade R11 Driver was really heading in, and I don't know what to say about the score because it was pathetic." This was certainly not the case for Stanley, a PGA Tour rookie last year, or for that matter Levin, also a relative newcomer to top-level pro Left Handed TaylorMade R11 Driver. "A round like today gives you confidence that you're doing the right things," Stanley said after carding nine birdies, one bogey and an eagle at the par-five last "I know it was a 62, but in fact it was a pretty boring round of golf. I hit a lot of greens and made a lot of putts," declared the big-hitting Stanley who hit an exquisite eight-iron from 173 yards to just three feet from the pin when setting up his cherry-on-the-top eagle at the 18th. "The course (North) was in good shape, the fairways were nice and the greens soft. You can be pretty aggressive with your Left Handed TaylorMade R11 Driver but you've got to hit solid putts. If you don't hit solid putts, it (the ball) will bump up on you." Levin, meanwhile, said he had noticed a big change in his game, and this was that he was able to keep the Left Handed TaylorMade R11 Driverl in play. It helped him set up short irons and plenty of birdie opportunities. "I had some putts for birdies instead of pars, and it all kind of added up to a good score," said Levin, whose bogey-free round included three birdies in a cautious front nine and seven more in his birdie blitz of the back nine. Haas, who has switched back to a Left Handed TaylorMade R11 Driver for this week, said he was delighted with the result "It was a great start, mainly with the Left Handed TaylorMade R11 Driver. It felt really good which is surprising because these greens are probably the toughest we've played so far this year," he said. Three-times major winner Vijay Singh of Fiji opened with a super solid 64 on the North Course and American World No 9 Dustin Johnson, the highest-ranked player in the field, carded a 66, also on the North Course. Johnson was especially pleased with his score after having to withdraw from last week's Humana Challenge at La Quinta with a lower back injury which followed arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in November. "Last week was the first time I had walked in a few months, but the knee's good," said Johnson, one of golf big bombers. "I feel great. "I hit the ball well today, even though I missed a few fairways, but of all the fairways I missed, it seemed like I was just a foot off. I hit my Left Handed TaylorMade R11 Driver really good and I holed a couple of putts." Defending champion Bubba Watson and fellow American Keegan Bradley, winner of last year's US PGA Championship, both posted 69s on the North layout while South African Ernie Els and Britain's Justin Rose launched their 2012 PGA Tour campaigns with 71s on the South course. To give you an idea of the degree of difficulty between the two courses, it should be noted that Thursday's first-round scoring average was 69.244 on the North Course and 72.846 on the South.
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