South Korea's Charlie Wi and American Jason Dufner shared the lead after the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational Thursday after shooting six-under-par rounds of 66 at Bay Hill. Wi mixed seven birdies with a bogey on the par-four eighth while the highlight of Dufner's round was an eagle on the par-five 16th thanks to a fine 208-yard approach shot with his four iron to 18 feet for the eagle putt. Nick Watney (68) was two shots back of the leaders after recovering from bogeys on the second and fourth holes thanks to some smart putting — five of his six birdies were from between eight and 15 feet. The top six ranked players in the world opted to skip the event but former world No. 1 Tiger Woods and England's in-form Justin Rose were among a pack of seven golfers sitting three shots back of Wi after posting scores of 69. Anthony Kim (69), who started on the back nine, had one of the more eventful opening rounds at Bay Hill as his scorecard featured five birdies, a hole-in-one on the 200-yard par-three 17th and four bogeys. Martin Laird was six shots off the pace and in a share of 27th place after mixing four birdies with four bogeys for an even-par 72. Phil Mickelson shot a one-over 73 with double-bogeys on the third and 18th holes. Three share lead Top-ranked Yani Tseng shot a 5-under 67 Thursday for a share of the first-round lead with Ji Young Oh and Caroline Hedwall in the Kia Classic. Tseng finished with a birdie on the par-4 ninth after dropping a stroke on the par-3 eighth when she drew a difficult lie in a greenside bunker. Tseng hit eight of 14 fairways and 12 of 18 greens in regulation. Oh also had six birdies and a bogey — also on No. 8 — on La Costa's Legends Course. She hit all but one fairway. Suzann Pettersen, Jiyai Shin, Brittany Lincicome and Jennifer Johnson were a stroke back.
