Golf:Robert Allenby ignored a twisted ankle to take a share of the lead after the opening round of the Sony Open in Honolulu.
The Australian fell off a curb in the Hawaiian city on Monday but his injury did not prove detrimental to his first day on the PGA Tour this year in blustery conditions at the Waialae Country Club.
Allenby shot a five-under-par 65 to take a share of a six-way lead in the first full-field tournament of the season with Americans Zach Johnson, Davis Love III, John Merrick, Ryan Palmer and PGA Tour Qualifying School winner Troy Merritt.
The sextet enjoy a one-shot lead over a 10-man group at four-under, including world number three Steve Stricker and Tom Lehman of the United States, Sweden's Carl Pettersson and Argentina's Angel Cabrera, the reigning Masters champion.
Love III had a bogey-free round while only Allenby and Merrick of the leaders had played in the afternoon wave at Waialae but the Australian's only concern had been getting through the round.
"I'll take that," the Australian said of his opening-round score. "I didn't know what to expect today.
"I twisted my ankle on Monday and didn't know whether I was going to play, tried it out yesterday and sort of scraped it around the golf course.
"I kind of did the same things today really. It's all a bit abbreviated, the old swing, but the short game's good and that's what counts. You need that when you're not 100 per cent."
Starting his round at the 10th, Allenby was four-under as he reached the turn, only to bogey his 10th hole, the par-four first.
A birdie at the par-three fourth was cancelled out by another bogey at his 16th before he bounced back with consecutive birdies to close.
A trio of Americans, 50-year-old Michael Allen, Ricky Barnes and Troy Matteson were at three-under, while British Open champion Stewart Cink and South Africa’s Rory Sabbatini were two of 11 men at two-under. Fiji's Vijay Singh, and South African duo, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, were among another large group on one-under.
That left only 45 golfers in the 144-man field under par and within five shots of the lead heading into the second round.
Justin Rose and Luke Donald were both off the pace as the European Ryder Cup stars failed to get the better of the tough, tight confines of the par-70, 7,068-yard course on the Pacific Ocean.
Both Englishmen finished the day with over-par first-round scores, Rose on two-over after a three-birdie, five-bogey 72.
Donald was four-over following a 74 with Sweden's Jesper Parnevik a further shot back and alongside US Open champion Lucas Glover.
Latest first-round scores from the Sony Open
(US unless stated, par 70)
Note: The play is suspended due to darkness
65John Merrick, Robert Allenby (Aus), Zach Johnson, Ryan Palmer, Davis Love III, Troy Merritt
66Brian Stuard, Steve Stricker, Pat Perez, Martin Flores, Jeff Quinney, Tom Lehman, Angel Cabrera (Arg), Roger Tambellini, Carl Pettersson (Swe), Shane Bertsch
67Ricky Barnes, Michael Allen, Troy Matteson
68Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), Brian Gay, Kevin Johnson, Stewart Cink, Mark Wilson, Chad Campbell, Bob Estes, Ryuichi Oda (Jpn), Sean O'Hair, Wen-chong Liang (Chn), Ryuji Imada (Jpn), Stephen Ames (Can)
69Spencer Levin, Retief Goosen (Rsa), Jason Dufner, Graham Delaet (Can), Joe Ogilvie, T.j Kua, Bubba Watson, Blake Adams, Vijay Singh (Fij), Chris Tidland, Chad Collins, Marc Leishman (Aus), Ernie Els (Rsa), Briny Baird
70David Toms, Woody Austin, Ben Curtis, Chez Reavie, Christopher Baryla (Can), Jeff Klauk, Justin Leonard, Aaron Goldberg, Y.E. Yang (Kor), Brian Davis (Eng), Omar Uresti, Matt Kuchar, Dustin Johnson, John Rollins, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe), Rich Barcelo
71Daisuke Maruyama (Jpn), Nick O'Hern (Aus), Matt Bettencourt, Webb Simpson, Jim Carter, Matthew Jones (Aus), Henrik Bjornstad (Nor), Nathan Green (Aus), Dean Wilson, Roland Thatcher, Boo Weekley, Bryce Molder, Jerod Turner, Nick Mason, Chris Wilson, Richard S Johnson (Swe), Mark Calcavecchia, K J Choi (Kor), Corey Pavin, Tim Clark (Rsa), Cameron Tringale, Josh Teater
72Jeff Gove, Greg Kraft, Brenden Pappas (Rsa), Steve Wheatcroft, Tadd Fujikawa, Justin Rose (Eng), Tim Petrovic, Bo Van Pelt, Stuart Appleby (Aus), Brendon De Jonge, Ted Purdy, Parker McLachlin, Cameron Percy (Aus), George McNeill, Paul Goydos, Cameron Beckman, D.J. Trahan
73David Lutterus (Rsa), Michael Letzig, Mathias Gronberg (Swe), Charles Howell III, John Daly, Daniel Chopra (Swe), Brett Quigley, Bill Haas, Kris Blanks, Scott Piercy, Derek Lamely, Jason Day (Aus), Charlie Wi (Kor), Kevin Na, Jeff Maggert, John Huston, Jay Williamson, Johnson Wagner
74Jerry Kelly, Chris Riley, Kevin Hayashi (Jpn), Luke Donald (Eng), Alex Prugh
75Scott McCarron, Jeff Overton, Garth Mulroy (Rsa), Lucas Glover, Brad Faxon, Jimmy Walker, Rich Beem, Rickie Fowler, Jonathan Byrd, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn), Jesper Parnevik (Swe)
76Kaname Yokoo (Jpn), Justin Bolli, Billy Horschel, Harrison Frazar
77D.A. Points, Steve Lowery, Marc Turnesa, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl)
79Nicholas Thompson