Dustin Johnson can't wait to play Pebble Beach, which he considers one of the most beautiful spots in golf.
And when the weather is pure, he can't wait to get Pebble out of the way.
Keeping score at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am is never easy, not when 156 players are spread among three golf courses in the Del Monte Forest and one of them has a different par than the other two.
One thing has been proven mostly correct over the years - on a good day, Pebble can be a pushover.
``It's one of the best places you want to be when it's good weather,'' Johnson said.
That's where Johnson, the defending champion, found himself Thursday for the opening round. The sunshine broke through the clouds, and whatever caused the flags to move could only be described as a gentle breeze.
Combine peaceful conditions with his power and soft greens, and it's the recipe for an 8-under 64, which is what Johnson put together for the first round. If the weather gets messy later in the week, at least Johnson won't have to face it at Pebble Beach.
Ditto for J.B. Holmes and K.J. Choi, who each had a 65 at Pebble Beach.
The forecast is decent for the rest of the tournament, but when does anyone trust meteorologists on the Monterey Peninsula. Go back to 1999, when the final round Sunday was canceled and the tournament was called after 54 holes (Payne Stewart was the winner) because of a storm system that stretched from California halfway to Japan. Some of the media enjoyed 18 holes at Pebble the next day.
Johnson's 64 put him atop the leaderboard (8 under), even if he only matched the best score of the day.
Charley Hoffman also had a 64, although his came on the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula, a par 70 and a newcomer to the rotation that has opened to sparkling reviews.
``One of my favorites now on tour,'' Phil Mickelson said after a 68.
Most players say Monterey Peninsula is every bit as good as Pebble Beach. It has nine holes that run along the coast, and it can be a wonderful walk when the wind is down. When it gets ugly, Monterey Peninsula could easily turn into a beast.
Perhaps it's not surprising that of the top 16 players Thursday, six of those scores came at Pebble Beach and seven from Monterey Peninsula. The other three came at Spyglass Hill, traditionally the toughest of the three.
David Duval, Matt Jones and John Senden each had a 67 at Spyglass Hill.
The average score at Spyglass was 71.52, compared with a 70.89 at Pebble Beach and a 69.97 at Monterey Peninsula.
No one was more surprised by his 67 than Duval, who could never handle that course even in the best of times. Even when he was on his way to No. 1 in the world in 1999, Duval would go to Spyglass and couldn't break 70.
``I never understood why, either,'' Duval said. ``I just never made putts, never got it close.''
He didn't always get it particularly close on Thursday, but he twice made putts over 30 feet, which always help.
So who's leading?
``No one,'' Duval said with a laugh. ``All the courses are so different. It's hard to tell until after the third day. My 5 under at Spyglass is better than a 5 under at Pebble.''
That's not to sniff at what Johnson did, especially finishing with five straight birdies to tie the tournament record with a 30 on the back nine. For all his power, Johnson was most pleased with a chip 7-iron from 169, when he controlled the flight and the spin and gave himself a birdie putt of about 6 feet at the top right corner of the green.
Nor is it to dismiss the stunning finish by Holmes, who holed an 8-iron from 175 yards on the eighth hole for eagle, then wrapped up his round with a 40-foot birdie putt on the ninth.
``To get a day like this at Pebble is great, because you can have some bad weather, and at the other golf courses, it's not too bad,'' Holmes said. ``Over here, I don't know what it is about over here, but it can be completely different. And most of the time, it's not better. It's worse over here.''
That wasn't the case on Thursday. Choi attributed his good round to good weather.
Over the last few years, he has taught a reporter to say in Korean, ``How was the wind?'' This was one time Choi was only to happy to answer the question in English, accompanied by a big smile.
``No wind today,'' he said. ``Perfect.''
