The Spaniard, whose stunning final round of 60 won him the Austrian Golf Open title in 2009, dropped two shots in his last three holes but still led at eight-under, thanks to the reserve driver he just happened to arrive in India with.

“I was very lucky to have that driver with me because I have never carried a reserve driver in my life,” he told reporters at the DLF Golf and Country Club.

“I only had it because they had built me a new one a few weeks ago and I haven’t been home since then. So it was lucky to have it in my luggage.

“I hit the original driver this morning and heard something strange and then it was rattling. So I told my caddie to go back to the locker to get the new one.

“I didn’t know how it was going to go but I hit it great this morning and then not so good this afternoon but I am sure it will be alright.”

Trailing him by one stroke was a group of six, including the Indian duo of Jeev Milkha Singh and Shiv Kapur, when bad light cut short the day’s proceedings.

Singh was three-under for the day after 11 holes, while Kapur added a bogey-free 65 to his opening round of 72 to stay in contention for his maiden European Tour title.

“The 30-minute break between the finish of the first round and the start of the second did me a world of good. I spent some time with the coach and we found something that helped me through the second round,” the 28-year-old Kapur said, without elaborating.

Heavy fog delayed Thursday’s play by three-and-half hours, forcing 66 players to return on Friday to complete their first round and then begin their second.
 
Nine-way tie for lead at Riviera

In Los Angeles, Corey Pavin and Fred Couples made it feel like the 1990s all over again as they worked their way onto a crowded leaderboard at Riviera, the course where they combined to win four times in a six-year stretch.

Turns out they weren’t the only ones who gave a retro look to the convoluted first round of the Northern Trust Open.

Despite pristine conditions — which might be a rarity the rest of the week — no one could do better than a 4-under 67. It was the highest score to lead after one round at Riviera since 1996.

And the leaderboard looked more like a waiting list at a five-star restaurant.

When darkness finally suspended the opening round Thursday, nine players were atop the leaderboard — Robert Allenby, John Senden, Martin Laird, Aaron Baddeley, Ben Martin, Carl Pettersson, J.B. Holmes, Bill Haas and Spencer Levin.

The PGA Tour said it was the largest tie for the lead after any round of any tournament since it began keeping records in 1970. And it could get even larger. Peter Tomasulo was among 14 players who didn’t finish the round. He returns Friday morning to face a 12-foot birdie putt and a chance to join the leaders.

So in some respects, it feels as though the tournament hasn’t really started.

For Dustin Johnson, it really felt that way.

He was on the practice range at 7:32 a.m., working his way through a bucket of balls to warm up, thinking he still had another 40 minutes before his tee time. His caddie, however, thought they teed off at 8:12 a.m. So imagine Johnson’s surprise when a PGA Tour official told he was supposed to be on the tee.

Johnson’s reply: “What are you talking about?”

He was penalized two strokes for not being on the tee at 7:32 a.m. Luckily for Johnson, he raced up the stairs and stepped onto the tee with six seconds to spare before the five minutes ran out and he would have been disqualified.

He shot a 73, which is two strokes worse than if he had known his tee times, still a lot better than if he had been six seconds slower.

Pavin and Couples started beautifully, it was the finish that killed them in different ways.

Couples, a 1990 and 1992 winner at this tournament, is a 51-year-old who has been battling a bad back for the last 20 years. It’s getting bad at the moment, and Couples said he has an MRI scheduled for Monday, followed by some treatment that he described with the following phrases — “little things,” “pretty drastic” and “fun for me to do it.”

That was about as clear as leaderboard.

He mostly hits drivers and fairway metals on the practice range, not wanting to bend over for a short iron shot until he has to. His first short iron of the day came on his opening hole, No. 10, and he dumped a sand wedge into the bunker and made bogey.

The rest of the round went nicely, and he wound up with a 68, one shot out of the lead.

“I played 18 holes and had a great round,” he said.