With hardly a breath of wind on a glorious sun-kissed day, Kang fired a sizzling eight-under-par 64 on the North Course, one of two layouts hosting the fourth PGA Tour event of the year.
Kang, making only his second appearance on the US circuit, upstaged six-times winner Tiger Woods and three-times champion Phil Mickelson as he piled up six birdies, an eagle and a lone bogey.
Woods, playing his first event of the season, opened with a bogey-free 69 on the North while left-hander Mickelson matched the lowest score of the day on the more difficult South layout, shooting a 67.
Kang birdied his last two holes to end the round one ahead of Americans Rickie Fowler and Alex Prugh, who also started out on the firm, fast-running North Course.
"All the par-fives are reachable so I tried to keep to the fairways and it worked really well," Kang told reporters. "I made two birdies and one eagle on the par-fives. I played very well today." The 24-year-old from Jeju booked his place on the 2011 PGA Tour via qualifying school and was delighted to be competing in the same event as multiple major winners Woods and Mickelson.
"Tiger and Phil, they are all really my goals," said Kang who has competed on the Korean, Asian and Japan tours. "I always was trying to be like them. I don't really try to beat them. I'm trying to learn from them all the time.
"This year especially, I'm really trying to have fun. I don't want to put any pressure on myself, so I'm really just trying to have fun." Kang signaled his potential at the highest level when he lost out in a three-way playoff to Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee for the European Tour-sanctioned Ballantine's Championship in South Korea in 2009.
The biggest concern for former world number one Woods, back at Torrey Pines for the first time since his stunning playoff victory at the 2008 US Open, was his failure to birdie any of the four par-fives.
"I'm happy with the way I played, absolutely," Woods said. "It could have been a lot better if I took care of the par-fives a little bit more, but obviously I didn't do that.
"Hopefully on the South Course tomorrow I can take care of the par-fives and put together a little bit better round." Mickelson, who has not triumphed at Torrey Pines since 2001, was delighted to card a seven-birdie 67 on the South Course where the average score on Thursday was 72.727.
"It's nice to get off to a good start," said the four-times major winner who was watched by his wife Amy. "You really don't know how you stand in the field until you play both courses.
"There is a fairly good discrepancy between the scores on the South and the North but I'm looking forward to tomorrow's round. I've always enjoyed playing here." Chris Kirk carded a 66 on the North layout to lie fourth, a stroke in front of a group of 10 players including fellow Americans Mickelson and John Daly, Japan's Ryuji Imada and Swede Fredrik Jacobson.
The scoring average on the North Course was 70.962 for the opening round.
