Perez held high hopes of shooting 59

GOLF: Pat Perez fired an 11-under-par 61 to grab a one-shot lead after the first round of the PGA Tour's Bob Hope Classic.

A superb 28 on the front nine helped catapult Perez to the top of the leaderboard and a one-stroke advantage over Mike Weir and Bubba Watson.

Perez, who never has won on the PGA Tour, had 10 birdies and an eagle on the Palmer course. He had six birdies and an eagle on his opening nine and appeared

poised to make a run at the tour record of 59 until his lone bogey at number five (his 14th hole) stemmed his momentum.

Weir, the champion here in 2003, used a blazing finish on the Palmer course to vault into the early lead before he was overtaken by Perez.

The Canadian had three birdies and an eagle in the final five holes en route to his 62. Weir shot a 30 on the back nine.

Vaughn Taylor, Briny Baird and Ben Crane were part of a six-man group at nine-under.

Defending champion DJ Trahan was among a cluster at seven-under 65. He is looking to become just the second player to defend the title at this event.

Par took a beating as 60 players shot 67 or better and only 15 players failed to shoot in red numbers.

The 90-hole event will be played on four courses and features a first prize of €707,000.

Trahan is coming off his best season on the PGA Tour. He earned €1.3 million in 2008, which is more than twice as much as he made in any of his previous three seasons on tour.

Only Johnny Miller has been able to win back-to-back titles at the Hope (1975 and 1976). In the past 32 years, only five defending champions have even posted top-10 finishes in their title defence.

Last season, Trahan finished at 26-under-par and posted a three-stroke victory over Justin Leonard.

World number eight Anthony Kim was the highest-ranked player in the field, but a shoulder injury caused the American to withdraw on Tuesday.