The Associated Press

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Health problems got Harrison Frazar down, but never out. That's more true than ever now that he's equipped with course-shortening equipment and a new putting philosophy.

Frazar tied his best PGA Tour score with a 9-under-par 62 Thursday to open a two-stroke lead over John Huston and David Toms after the first round of the Phoenix Open.

"I drove (No. 17) today," he said about a 332-yard hole his new Cleveland Pro V-1X driver helped him birdie. "Right in the middle of the green, pin-high, 35 or 40 feet from the hole. And it wasn't one of those drives where, as soon as it left the club face, you think, 'Oh, that one was so special."'

Despite the attention focused on youngsters like Aaron Baddeley and Sergio Garcia, the first round belonged to a relatively obscure veteran who has never won a PGA tournament.

Retief Goosen, J.J. Henry, John Rollins, Luke Donald and James McLean carded 65s. Scott McCarron, Steve Elkington, Ian Leggatt, Charles Howell III, Dan Forsman, Tim Petrovic, Shaun Micheel and Kirk Triplett were a shot behind them.

Garcia was in a group of 29 at 69. The cluster also included defending champion Chris DiMarco and former champions Phil Mickelson (1996) and Rocco Mediate (1999), who placed third in last week's Sony Open.

Eighty-nine players broke par, setting a Phoenix first-round record with an average score of 69.667.

"I putted extremely well today," Huston said. "The conditions were perfect, so I think you had to kind of take advantage of it or you'd be in danger of falling too far behind."

The 21-year-old Baddeley, who was second at Honolulu, shot a 71 and needs a strong second round to make the cut. So does Ty Tryon, 18, who made his PGA debut last year at Phoenix and missed the cut then. He shot a 73.

Frazar played most of 1999 with a broken hand and missed two months of the 2001 season after having surgery to repair torn ligaments and cartilage in his right hip.

He plugged along, somehow managing to remain among the top 100 money-winners. Frazar began last year still hurt and made only 15 cuts, but had five top 10 finishes.

After tying for 33rd in Honolulu on Sunday, Frazar decided to break out the new Titleist X ball. He also had dinner Wednesday night with a friend, psychologist Fran Perazzoli, to change his thinking while putting - from worry about mechanics to finding the sweet spot on the blade.

"If you're going to hit a baseball, when a pitch comes in you're not thinking about the mechanics of the swing; you're focusing on the sound," Frazar said. "Same thing when I'm driving the ball.

"So we just try to kind of buy into that in putting and try to anticipate the sound."

Everything clicked. Frazar had five birdies on the front nine, finishing with three in a row on the TPC of Scottsdale course.

He bogeyed the 469-yard 11th hole when he got too much of a divot with his 7-iron, lofting a shot that fell short of the green to negate an exceptional drive. Frazar chipped on but two-putted.

He got to 6-under with a 20-foot eagle chip on No. 13 after hitting a 5-wood a yard off the green, then had three more birdies from Nos. 15-17.

Huston got to 64 by birdieing five of the last seven holes. Toms went the other way, double-bogeying the 18th to fall out of the lead after recording his ninth birdie on the previous hole.

"As soon as we get out of here and stop talking about it, I'll forget about it," Toms said. "Seven-under is a good opening round. Obviously, I didn't finish up the way I wanted."

John Daly, who tied for fourth last year, shot a 77. His round included a double bogey and then five straight bogeys on the front nine, and a discouraging bogey at No. 15, where he nearly beaned a duck after hooking his tee shot into water.

"I hit the 3-wood awful today," Daly said. "For some reason I hit it left. If you don't hit the fairways out here, you're not going to score."

Huston's back-nine start included two bogeys. But he also had an eagle on his fourth hole - the same par-5 Frazar eagled - and a birdie.

After the turn, he had three birdies in five holes, and he hit short irons to the greens at the next-to-last and last holes, sinking 20- and 15-foot putts.

Toms, playing in his first 2003 event, birdied five consecutive holes from Nos. 9-14, pulling within one shot of the lead.

He got into a tie on No. 17, where he chipped to within 5 feet. But he lost two strokes on No. 18, a 438-yard par-4 which demands a tee shot that carries at least 200 yards over a large lake.

Instead, Toms pulled it into the water and had to drop another ball.

"I looked at my caddie when he was handing me another ball and said, 'What in the world was that?' I just don't do that normally," he said.

Divots: Huston tied the front-nine course record with 6-under 29. ... DiMarco is looking to be the fifth player to win back-to-back Phoenix Open titles. The others are: Ben Hogan (1946-47), Jimmy Demaret (1949-50) and Johnny Miller (1974-75). ... Bob Burns aced the 175-yard fourth hole with a 6-iron, but still shot 70.

Els two strokes back in rain-delayed Singapore Masters

SINGAPORE - Ernie Els was 5-under par through 15 holes Thursday when rain forced the suspension of play in the first round of the Singapore Masters.

The South African star, coming off consecutive PGA Tour victories in Hawaii, will finish the round Friday morning on the Laguna National course.

Only half of the 144 players completed the round, with England's Benn Barham topping the leaderboard at 7-under 65.

Barham, beginning his first full year on the PGA European Tour, was a stroke ahead of England's Paul Broadhurst and Simon Khan and India's Jeev Milka Singh. Defending champion Arjun Atwal of India was 5 under along with Els, also with three holes to play.

Els, No. 2 in the world rankings, birdied the 15th hole - his fourth birdie in five holes - before play was suspended.

"I think maybe I was going to run out of birdies after making four in five holes, so maybe it was a good time to go," Els said.

"I still have to get used to the grain on the greens, but I'm satisfied. I'm happy with the way I came back on the back nine."

Els won the Mercedes Championships by eight strokes two weeks ago, finishing 31 under to shatter the PGA Tour record for relation to par, and added the Sony Open title Sunday with a playoff victory over Australia's Aaron Baddeley.

The British Open winner has earned $3.81 million in his last three events - $2 million in the Nedbank Challenge, $1 million in the Mercedes and $810,000 in the Sony.