Mystery man Pettersson sets course record

The Little-known Swede Carl Pettersson took a surprise two-shot lead after finishing with a course record nine-under-par 63 in the first round of the Honda Classic here yesterday.

Pettersson's previous best was 24th place in six US Tour starts so far in the current campaign, but the birdies just kept coming for him. He was especially pleased with his short game, noting: "I obviously made a lot of putts to shoot nine under. I've played better rounds tee to green. But obviously I made the putts - which is a huge difference."

Tour rookie Mark Hensby shot a 65 for second, one shot ahead of Steve Flesch, Jesper Parnevik and Rory Sabbatini.

Pettersson's success came as a surprise even to his compatriot Parnevik, who said: "He's one of those mystery Swedes. Pretty much even the Swedish golfers didn't have a clue for a while that he was from Sweden."

Pettersson, who left Sweden when he was 10, had just one top-10 finish as a rookie, but that was when he was runner-up to Tiger Woods at the Buick Invitational. He is accustomed to leading the field in big tournaments too, having been out in front in the 2002 Open championship in which he eventually finished 43rd.

Honda Classic (Palm Beach Gardens, Fl, US) Leading first-round scores (US unless stated): 63 C Pettersson (Swe). 65 M Hensby (Aus). 66 R Sabbatini (SA), J Parnevik (Swe), S Flesch. 67 F Jacobson (Swe), J Riegger, C Franco (Fr), K Na (S Kor). 68 K Duke, R Allenby (Aus), F Couples, O Browne, B Baird, B Faxon, G Sauers, T Hamilton, L Mize. 69 B Jobe, T Purdy, Z Johnson, G Day, D Love III, G Hnatiuk (Can), D Gossett, S McCarron, T Armour III, K Perry, C Bowden, B Pappas (SA), M Allen (Irl), R Damron, B Quigley. 70 R Tambellini, H Kuehne, N Lancaster, L Donald (Eng), C Smith, B Mayfair, D Wilson, H Sutton, T Pernice Jnr. 71 J Leonard, B Burns, D Branshaw, H Tanaka (Japan), S Kendall, J Sindelar, A Morse, J Coceres (Arg), M O'Meara, D Ellis, P Sheehan, B Langer (Ger), J Rose (Eng), C Campbell, B Bateman, J Ogilvie, W Austin, M Gronberg (Swe). 72 J Delsing, J Bohn, T Herron, B Van Pelt, C Howell III, G Norman (Aus), R Barnes, D Toms, K Jones, C Perks (NZ), M Kuchar, A Atwal (Ind), T Fischer, P Bates, J Dufner, D J Brigman, A Baddeley (Aus), J Sluman, N Begay III, C Riley, R Palmer, J Senden (Aus), C Beckman, T Tolles.